Underhill's portrait of Kabir rests on a line from this poem, and her introduction quotes it with two words added inside the quotation marks: at once the child of Allah and of Ram. The poem itself reads: "Kabîr is the child of Allah and of Ram: He is my Guru," and so on to the Pir. Adding at once turns a statement about one God under two names into a doctrine of double belonging, which is the synthesis her introduction argues for. The poem's own movement is inward rather than additive. It begins "Hari is in the East: Allah is in the West." and then sends the reader to look within the heart, where both are found as one.
Songs of Kabir — trans. Rabindranath Tagore, with an introduction by Evelyn Underhill (1915)
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The translator’s English as printed (Rabindranath Tagore, with an introduction by Evelyn Underhill). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
I do not know what manner of God is mine. The Mullah cries aloud to Him: and why? Is your Lord deaf? The subtle anklets that ring on the feet of an insect when it moves are heard of Him. Tell your beads, paint your forehead with the mark of your God, and wear matted locks long and showy: but a deadly weapon is in your heart, and how shall you have God?
LXVIII
III. 102. _ham se rahâ na jây_
I hear the melody of His flute, and I cannot contain myself:
The flower blooms, though it is not spring; and already the bee
has received its invitation.
The sky roars and the lightning flashes, the waves arise in my
heart,
The rain falls; and my heart longs for my Lord.
Where the rhythm of the world rises and falls, thither my heart
has reached:
There the hidden banners are fluttering in the air.
Kabîr says: "My heart is dying, though it lives."
LXIX
III. 2. _jo khodâ masjid vasat hai_
If God be within the mosque, then to whom does this world belong?
If Ram be within the image which you find upon your pilgrimage,
then who is there to know what happens without?
Hari is in the East: Allah is in the West. Look within your
heart, for there you will find both Karim and Ram;
All the men and women of the world are His living forms.
Kabîr is the child of Allah and of Ram: He is my Guru, He is my
Pir.
LXX
III. 9. _s'îl santosh sadâ samadrishti_
He who is meek and contented., he who has an equal vision, whose mind is filled with the fullness of acceptance and of rest; He who has seen Him and touched Him, he is freed from all fear and trouble. To him the perpetual thought of God is like sandal paste smeared on the body, to him nothing else is delight: His work and his rest are filled with music: he sheds abroad the radiance of love. Kabîr says: "Touch His feet, who is one and indivisible, immutable and peaceful; who fills all vessels to the brim with joy, and whose form is love."
LXXI
III. 13. _sâdh sangat pîtam_
Go thou to the company of the good, where the Beloved One has His
dwelling place:
Take all thy thoughts and love and instruction from thence.
Let that assembly be burnt to ashes where His Name is not spoken!
Tell me, how couldst thou hold a wedding-feast, if the bridegroom
himself were not there?
Waver no more, think only of the Beloved;
Set not thy heart on the worship of other gods, there is no worth
in the worship of other masters.
Kabîr deliberates and says: "Thus thou shalt never find the
Beloved!"
LXXII
III. 26. _tor hîrâ hirâilwâ kîcad men_
The jewel is lost in the mud, and all are seeking for it;
Some look for it in the east, and some in the west; some in the
water and some amongst stones.
But the servant Kabîr has appraised it at its true value, and has
wrapped it with care in the end of the mantle of his heart.
LXXIII
III. 26. _âyau din gaune kâ ho_
The palanquin came to take me away to my husband's home, and it sent through my heart a thrill of joy; But the bearers have brought me into the lonely forest, where I have no one of my own. O bearers, I entreat you by your feet, wait but a moment longer: let me go back to my kinsmen and friends, and take my leave of them. The servant Kabîr sings: "O Sadhu! finish your buying and selling, have done with your good and your bad: for there are no markets and no shops in the land to which you go."
LXXIV
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.
LXXV
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."
LXXVI