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Mystic Songs - 16
Nirbhay Nirgun Gun Re Gaunga ||
Mool Kamal Dradh Aasan Bandhu-ji
Ulti Pavan Chadaunga ||
Man Mamta Ko Thir Kar Laun-ji
Pancho Tat Milaunga ||
Ingala Pingala Sukhman Nadi-ji
Tirveni Pe Haun Nahaunga ||
Panch Pachhison Pakad Mangaun-ji
Ek Hi Dor Lagaunga ||
Shunya Shikhar Par Anhad Baje-ji
Raag Chattis Sunaunga ||
Kahat Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho-ji
Jeet Nishan Ghuraunga ||
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inaBa-ya inargauNa
gauNa ro gaa}Mgaa
maUla kmala dRD,
Aasana baaMQaU–jaI
]laTI pvana caD,a}Mgaa
mana mamata kao
iqar kr laa}M–jaI
paMcaao t<a imalaa}Mgaa
i[ngalaa‚
ipngalaa‚ sauKmana naaDI–jaI
itrvaoNaI po haOM naha}Mgaa
paMca pccaIsaaoM
pkD, maMgaa}–jaI
ek hI Daor lagaa}Mgaa
SaUnya iSaKr pr
Anahd baajao–jaI
raga C%tIsa saunaa}Mgaa
kht kbaIr saunaao
Baa[- saaQaao–jaI
jaIt inaSaana Gaura}Mgaa
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Translation
Fearlessly I Will Sing the Attributes of the One without Attributes ||
Using the Base Lotus as the Steady Seat
I Will Make the Wind Rise in Reverse ||
Steadying the Mind's Attachments
I Will Unify the Five Elements ||
Ingila, Pingala and Sukhman are the Channels
I Will Bathe at the Confluence of the Three Rivers ||
The Five and Twenty Five I Will Master by my Wish
And String them Together by One Common Thread ||
At the Summit of Aloneness the Un-struck Anahad Sound Reverberates
I Will Play the Thirty-Six Different Symphonies ||
Says Kabir Listen Oh Practicing Aspirant
I Will Wave the Flag of Victory ||
Explanation
 In this song, Kabir clearly shows the "real" meaning of certain phrases used in ancient texts. Often these are mistaken to be reference to physical places while in reality an internal experience is actually being told.
Fear is the first and biggest obstacle to spiritual realization. And a state of fearlessness shows that a person has actually accepted the environment or physical reality for what it is. In that state of accepting oneness, Kabir says that he is going to expound on the attributes of the ultimate.
Mapping out the procedure for this spiritual journey, Kabir says that we have to start by rooting ourselves (as the tree or plant roots itself) at the base or seat of the energy. The lotus is a reference to a spiritual experience of energy that "flowers" much like a lotus rising above the negativity and fear. Note that the source for nourishment of this lotus is indeed coming from the same swampy muck of negativity. In other words, the negativity or fear is not intrinsically "bad" but really needs to be channeled into more creative expressions. In such a re-channeling of energy, the subtle life force (much like a wind or molecular energy current) starts defying gravity (of our limitations) and moves in a reverse elevating fashion. The further it moves up the less constrained it becomes - in effect integrating all of reality into a universal oneness.
What pulls the energy down is the gravitational force of our attachments. Therefore the mind needs to be steadied to a state of equilibrium where these attachments are no longer forcing us downward to the realm of fear. In such a state of upward transition, the earthy reality of fear gets transformed to the watery reality of creativity, then the fiery reality of power onto the airy reality of love and finally the ethereal realm of freedom and total spatial detachment. In effect, the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether are merged in a transcendental fashion.
At this stage of the journey the pair of opposites are balanced. That is, the cold dispassionate channel and the hot passionate channel are balanced in the center channel through a dynamic equilibrium. However, reality is still flowing and time is not transcended. Only when the triad of flows (cold, hot and lukewarm, or past, future and present, or left, right and center) merge that one is able to overcome the grip of Kala or time. It is then that the three rivers or channels merge at the confluence of Triveni and one takes a holy dip of immortality. Why immortality? Because at this point the constraints of both space (through the unifying of the five elements) and time (through the merging of the three channels) have been removed. In fact, the holy dip in the immortality of Triveni is an internal experience and the physical location of Prayag (Allahabad, India) is only a reminder of this inner truth. In other words, Kabir is indicating that only when one experiences such holy bathing within does one become immortal and not by a mere dip in the waters of the three rivers at Allahabad.
When such a confluence is achieved one has the ability of controlling the five senses and twenty-five ways of experiencing world and stringing them with the oneness of your inner self much like a garland. Since there is nothing but yourself, Kabir calls it the summit of nothingness. The feat of reaching the summit of creation is celebrated by the waving of a flag of victory and sounds of a myriad of rhythmic symphonies coming from the eternal un-struck sound that brings forth the entire creation itself.
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Maalok
Illustration by Vaish
June 12, 2001
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