Jo Dise So To Hai Nahin, Hai So Kaha Na Jayee
Bin Dekhe Parteet Na Aave, Kahe Na Koyee Patiyana
Samajh Hoye To Rabeen Cheenho, Achraj Hoye Ayana
Koi Dhyave Nirakar Ko, Koi Dhyave Aakaara
Jo Dise So To Hai Nahin, Hai So Kaha Na Jayee
Bin Dekhe Parteet Na Aave, Kahe Na Koyee Patiyana
Samajh Hoye To Rabeen Cheenho, Achraj Hoye Ayana
Koi Dhyave Nirakar Ko, Koi Dhyave Aakaara
Ja Bidhi In Dono Te Nyara, Jane Jananhara
Woh Raag To Likhia Na Jayee Matra Lakhe Na Kana
Kahat Kabir So Padhe Na Parlay, Surat Nirat Jin Jana
Translation
What is seen is not the Truth, What is cannot be said
Trust comes not without seeing, Nor understanding without words
The wise comprehends with knowledge, To the ignorant it is but a wonder
Some worship the formless God, Some worship His various forms
In what way He is beyond these attributes, Only the Knower knows
That music cannot be written, How can then be the notes
Says Kabir, awareness alone will overcome illusion
“Kabir is not easily categorized as a Sufi or a Yogi—he is all of these. He is revered by Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. He stands as a unique, saintly, yet very human, bridge between the great traditions that live in India. Kabir says of himself that he is, “at once the child of Allah and Ram.”
He was born in Varanasi (Benares), India, probably around the year 1440 (though other accounts place his birth as early as 1398), to Muslim parents. Early in his life Kabir became a disciple of the Hindu bhakti saint Ramananda.
His greatest work is the Bijak (the “Seedling”), an idea of the fundamental one. His Hindi was a vernacular, straightforward kind, much like his philosophies. The major part of Kabir’s work as a bhagat was collected by the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, and incorporated into the Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib.
Although Kabir labored to bring the often clashing religious cultures of Islam and Hinduism together, he was equally disdainful of professional piety in any form. This earned him the hatred and persecution of the religious authorities in Varanasi. Nearing age 60, he was denounced before the king and banished from the region.
He subsequently lived a life of exile, traveling through northern India with a group of disciples. In 1518, he died at Maghar near Gorakhpur.”