Ang-401 — Chapter 82
You hope for long life, while Death counts your breaths.
The world is a game, O Kabeer, so throw the dice consciously. ||3||1||23||
Aasaa:
I make my body the dying vat, and within it, I dye my mind. I make the five elements my marriage guests.
I take my marriage vows with the Lord, my King; my soul is imbued with His Love. ||1||
Sing, sing, O brides of the Lord, the marriage songs of the Lord.
The Lord, my King, has come to my house as my Husband. ||1||Pause||
Within the lotus of my heart, I have made my bridal pavilion, and I have spoken the wisdom of God.
I have obtained the Lord King as my Husband - such is my great good fortune. ||2||
The angles, holy men, silent sages, and the 330,000,000 deities have come in their heavenly chariots to see this spectacle.
Says Kabeer, I have been taken in marriage by the One Supreme Being, the Lord God. ||3||2||24||
Aasaa:
I am bothered by my mother-in-law, Maya, and loved by my father-in-law, the Lord. I fear even the name of my husband's elder brother, Death.
O my mates and companions, my husband's sister, misunderstanding has seized me, and I am burning with the pain of separation from my husband's younger brother, divine knowledge. ||1||
My mind has gone insane, since I forgot the Lord. How can I lead a virtuous lifestyle?
He rests in the bed of my mind, but I cannot see Him with my eyes. Unto whom should I tell my sufferings? ||1||Pause||
My step-father, egotism, fights with me, and my mother, desire, is always intoxicated.
When I stayed with my elder brother, meditation, then I was loved by my Husband Lord. ||2||
Says Kabeer, the five passions argue with me, and in these arguments, my life is wasting away.
The false Maya has bound the whole world, but I have obtained peace, chanting the Name of the Lord. ||3||3||25||
Aasaa:
In my house, I constantly weave the thread, while you wear the thread around your neck, O Brahmin.
You read the Vedas and sacred hymns, while I have enshrined the Lord of the Universe in my heart. ||1||
Upon my tongue, within my eyes, and within my heart, abides the Lord, the Lord of the Universe.
When you are interrogated at Death's door, O mad-man, what will you say then? ||1||Pause||
I am a cow, and You are the herdsman, the Sustainer of the World. You are my Saving Grace, lifetime after lifetime.
You have never taken me across to graze there - what sort of a herdsman are You? ||2||
You are a Brahmin, and I am a weaver of Benares; can You understand my wisdom?
You beg from emperors and kings, while I meditate on the Lord. ||3||4||26||
Aasaa:
The life of the world is only a dream; life is just a dream.
Believing it to be true, I grasped at it, and abandoned the supreme treasure. ||1||
O Father, I have enshrined love and affection for Maya,
which has taken the jewel of spiritual wisdom away from me. ||1||Pause||
The moth sees with its eyes, but it still becomes entangled; the insect does not see the fire.
Attached to gold and woman, the fool does not think of the noose of Death. ||2||
Reflect upon this, and abandon sin; the Lord is a boat to carry you across.
Says Kabeer, such is the Lord, the Life of the World; there is no one equal to Him. ||3||5||27||
Aasaa:
✦ 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.”
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.”