Ang-1301 — Chapter 72
The more Kabeer worships Him, the more the Lord abides within his mind. ||141||
Kabeer, the mortal has fallen into the grip of family life, and the Lord has been set aside.
The messengers of the Righteous Judge of Dharma descend upon the mortal, in the midst of all his pomp and ceremony. ||142||
Kabeer, even a pig is better than the faithless cynic; at least the pig keeps the village clean.
When the wretched, faithless cynic dies, no one even mentions his name. ||143||
Kabeer, the mortal gathers wealth, shell by shell, accumulating thousands and millions.
But when the time of his departure comes, he takes nothing at all with him. He is even stripped of his loin-cloth. ||144||
Kabeer, what good is it to become a devotee of Vishnu, and wear four malas?
On the outside, he may look like pure gold, but on the inside, he is stuffed with dust. ||145||
Kabeer, let yourself be a pebble on the path; abandon your egotistical pride.
Such a humble slave shall meet the Lord God. ||146||
Kabeer, what good would it be, to be a pebble? It would only hurt the traveller on the path.
Your slave, O Lord, is like the dust of the earth. ||147||
Kabeer, what then, if one could become dust? It is blown up by the wind, and sticks to the body.
The humble servant of the Lord should be like water, which cleans everything. ||148||
Kabeer, what then, if one could become water? It becomes cold, then hot.
The humble servant of the Lord should be just like the Lord. ||149||
The banners wave above the lofty mansions, filled with gold and beautiful women.
But better than these is dry bread, if one sings the Glorious Praises of the Lord in the Society of the Saints. ||150||
Kabeer, the wilderness is better than a city, if the Lord's devotees live there.
Without my Beloved Lord, it is like the City of Death for me. ||151||
Kabeer, between the Ganges and Jamunaa Rivers, on the shore of Celestial Silence,
there, Kabeer has made his home. The silent sages and the humble servants of the Lord search for the way to get there. ||152||
Kabeer, if the mortal continues to love the Lord in the end, as he pledged in the beginning,
no poor diamond, not even millions of jewels, can equal him. ||153||
Kabeer, I saw a strange and wonderful thing. A jewel was being sold in a store.
Because there was no buyer, it was going in exchange for a shell. ||154||
Kabeer, where there is spiritual wisdom, there is righteousness and Dharma. Where there is falsehood, there is sin.
Where there is greed, there is death. Where there is forgiveness, there is God Himself. ||155||
Kabeer, what good is it to give up Maya, if the mortal does not give up his pride?
Even the silent sages and seers are destroyed by pride; pride eats up everything. ||156||
Kabeer, the True Guru has met me; He aimed the Arrow of the Shabad at me.
As soon as it struck me, I fell to the ground with a hole in my heart. ||157||
Kabeer, what can the True Guru do, when His Sikhs are at fault?
The blind do not take in any of His Teachings; it is as useless as blowing into bamboo. ||158||
Kabeer, the wife of the king has all sorts of horses, elephants and carriages.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Leviticus 19:18
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Impermanence & Letting Go
Dhammapada 20:277
“All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”
Tao Te Ching 76
“A man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff. The soft and yielding is the disciple of life.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Bhagavad Gita 2:22
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”
The Path to Wisdom
Proverbs 4:7
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
Dhammapada 20:282
“Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes.”
Analects 2:11
“If you study the past and use it to understand the present, you are worthy of being a teacher.”
Tao Te Ching 33
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”
Humility & Surrender
Bhagavad Gita 18:66
“Abandon all varieties of dharma and simply surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions; do not fear.”
Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Tao Te Ching 22
“If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.”
Quran 2:45
“Seek help through patience and prayer. It is indeed exacting, but not for those who are humble.”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Dhammapada 1:1-2
“Mind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
Genesis 1:3
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”