The Essential Works of Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore

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      III. 30. are dil, prem nagar kä ant na pâyâ

      O my heart! you have not known all the secrets of this city of

       love: in ignorance you came, and in ignorance you return.

       O my friend, what have you done with this life? You have taken

       on your head the burden heavy with stones, and who is to

       lighten it for you?

       Your Friend stands on the other shore, but you never think in

       your mind how you may meet with Him:

       The boat is broken, and yet you sit ever upon the bank; and thus

       you are beaten to no purpose by the waves.

       The servant Kabîr asks you to consider; who is there that shall

       befriend you at the last?

       You are alone, you have no companion: you will suffer the

       consequences of your own deeds.

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      III. 55. ved kahe sargun ke âge

      The Vedas say that the Unconditioned stands beyond the world of

       Conditions.

       O woman, what does it avail thee to dispute whether He is beyond

       all or in all?

       See thou everything as thine own dwelling place: the mist of

       pleasure and pain can never spread there.

       There Brahma is revealed day and night: there light is His

       garment, light is His seat, light rests on thy head.

       Kabîr says: "The Master, who is true, He is all light."

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      III. 48. tû surat nain nihâr

      Open your eyes of love, and see Him who pervades this world I

       consider it well, and know that this is your own country.

       When you meet the true Guru, He will awaken your heart;

       He will tell you the secret of love and detachment, and then you

       will know indeed that He transcends this universe.

       This world is the City of Truth, its maze of paths enchants the

       heart:

       We can reach the goal without crossing the road, such is the

       sport unending.

       Where the ring of manifold joys ever dances about Him, there is

       the sport of Eternal Bliss.

       When we know this, then all our receiving and renouncing is

       over;

       Thenceforth the heat of having shall never scorch us more.

      He is the Ultimate Rest unbounded:

       He has spread His form of love throughout all the world.

       From that Ray which is Truth, streams of new forms are

       perpetually springing: and He pervades those forms.

       All the gardens and groves and bowers are abounding with blossom;

       and the air breaks forth into ripples of joy.

       There the swan plays a wonderful game,

       There the Unstruck Music eddies around the Infinite One;

       There in the midst the Throne of the Unheld is shining, whereon

       the great Being sits—

       Millions of suns are shamed by the radiance of a single hair of

       His body.

       On the harp of the road what true melodies are being sounded!

       and its notes pierce the heart:

       There the Eternal Fountain is playing its endless life-streams of

       birth and death.

       They call Him Emptiness who is the Truth of truths, in Whom all

       truths are stored!

      There within Him creation goes forward, which is beyond all

       philosophy; for philosophy cannot attain to Him:

       There is an endless world, O my Brother! and there is the

       Nameless Being, of whom naught can be said.

       Only he knows it who has reached that region: it is other than

       all that is heard and said.

       No form, no body, no length, no breadth is seen there: how can I

       tell you that which it is?

       He comes to the Path of the Infinite on whom the grace of the

       Lord descends: he is freed from births and deaths who attains

       to Him.

       Kabîr says: "It cannot be told by the words of the mouth, it

       cannot be written on paper:

       It is like a dumb person who tastes a sweet thing—how shall it

       be explained?"

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      III. 60. cal hamsâ wâ des' jahân

      O my heart! let us go to that country where dwells the Beloved,

       the ravisher of my heart!

       There Love is filling her pitcher from the well, yet she has no

       rope wherewith to draw water;

       There the clouds do not cover the sky, yet the rain falls down in

       gentle showers:

       O bodiless one! do not sit on your doorstep; go forth and bathe

       yourself in that rain!

       There it is ever moonlight and never dark; and who speaks of one

       sun only? that land is illuminate with the rays of a million

       suns.

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      III. 63. kahain Kabîr, s'uno ho sâdho

      Kabîr says: "O Sadhu! hear my deathless words. If you want your

       own good, examine and consider them well.

       You have estranged yourself from the Creator, of whom you have

       sprung: you have lost your reason, you have bought death.

       All doctrines and all teachings are sprung from Him, from Him

       they grow: know this for certain, and have no fear.

       Hear from me the tidings of this great truth!

       Whose name do you sing, and on whom do you meditate? O, come

       forth from this entanglement!

       He dwells at the heart of all things, so why take refuge in empty

       desolation?