The Essential Works of Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore

What subtle threads the woman weaves, and makes them fine with

       love and reverence!

       Kabîr says: "I am weaving the garland of day and night. When my

       Lover comes and touches me with His feet, I shall offer Him my

       tears."

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      III. 111. kotîn bhânu candra târâgan

      Beneath the great umbrella of my King millions of suns and moons

       and stars are shining!

       He is the Mind within my mind: He is the Eye within mine eye.

       Ah, could my mind and eyes be one! Could my love but reach to my

       Lover! Could but the fiery heat of my heart be cooled!

       Kabîr says: "When you unite love with the Lover, then you have

       love's perfection."

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      I. 92. avadhû begam des' hamârâ

      O sadhu! my land is a sorrowless land.

       I cry aloud to all, to the king and the beggar, the emperor and

       the fakir—

       Whosoever seeks for shelter in the Highest, let all come and

       settle in my land!

       Let the weary come and lay his burdens here!

      So live here, my brother, that you may cross with ease to that

       other shore.

       It is a land without earth or sky, without moon or stars;

       For only the radiance of Truth shines in my Lord's Durbar.

       Kabîr says: "O beloved brother! naught is essential save Truth."

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      I. 109. sâîn ke sangat sâsur âî

      Came with my Lord to my Lord's home: but I lived not with Him and

       I tasted Him not, and my youth passed away like a dream.

       On my wedding night my women-friends sang in chorus, and I was

       anointed with the unguents of pleasure and pain:

       But when the ceremony was over, I left my Lord and came away, and

       my kinsman tried to console me upon the road.

       Kabîr says, "I shall go to my Lord's house with my love at my

       side; then shall I sound the trumpet of triumph!"

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      I. 75. samajh dekh man mît piyarwâ

      O friend, dear heart of mine, think well! if you love indeed,

       then why do you sleep?

       If you have found Him, then give yourself utterly, and take Him

       to you.

       Why do you loose Him again and again?

       If the deep sleep of rest has come to your eyes, why waste your

       time making the bed and arranging the pillows?

       Kabîr says: "I tell you the ways of love! Even though the head

       itself must be given, why should you weep over it?"

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      II. 90. sâhab ham men, sâhab tum men

      The Lord is in me, the Lord is in you, as life is in every seed.

       O servant! put false pride away, and seek for Him within you.

       A million suns are ablaze with light,

       The sea of blue spreads in the sky,

       The fever of life is stilled, and all stains are washed away;

       when I sit in the midst of that world.

       Hark to the unstruck bells and drums! Take your delight in love!

       Rains pour down without water, and the rivers are streams of

       light.

       One Love it is that pervades the whole world, few there are who

       know it fully:

       They are blind who hope to see it by the light of reason, that

       reason which is the cause of separation—

       The House of Reason is very far away!

       How blessed is Kabîr, that amidst this great joy he sings within

       his own vessel.

       It is the music of the meeting of soul with soul;

       It is the music of the forgetting of sorrows;

       It is the music that transcends all coming in and all going

       forth.

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      II. 98. ritu phâgun niyarânî

      The month of March draws near: ah, who will unite me to my Lover?

       How shall I find words for the beauty of my Beloved? For He is

       merged in all beauty.

       His colour is in all the pictures of the world, and it bewitches

       the body and the mind.

       Those who know this, know what is this unutterable play of the

       Spring.

       Kabîr says: "Listen to me, brother' there are not many who have

       found this out."

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      II. 111. Nârad, pyâr so antar nâhî

      Oh Narad! I know that my Lover cannot be far:

       When my Lover wakes, I wake; when He sleeps, I sleep.

       He is destroyed at the root who gives pain to my Beloved.

       Where they sing His praise, there I live;

       When He moves, I walk before Him: my heart yearns for my Beloved.

       The infinite pilgrimage lies at His feet, a million devotees are

       seated there.

       Kabîr says: "The Lover Himself reveals the glory of true love."

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      II.