Mystic Songs


Transliteration:

Raakh lehau hum tae bigaree.
Seel dharam jap bhagat na keenee hau abhimaan Tedd pagaree ||1|| rahaau ||
Amar jaan sanchee ieh kaiaa ieh mithiaa kaachee gagaree.
Jineh nivaaj saaj hum ke'ee tiseh bisaar avar lagaree. 1.
Sandhik tohae saadh nahee kaheeaau saran parae tumaree pagaree.
Kaeh Kabir ieh binatee suneeahu mut ghaalahu jum kee khabaree. ||2||6||

Translation:

Save me! I have wrecked (my life). (How? As,) I have not practiced humility, high moral character, righteousness or devotional worship; (instead) I have become proud and egotistical, and I have taken an unprincipled crooked path. ||1||Pause||

(Falsely) Believing in the immortality of this body, I pampered it, nurtured it; but it is fragile and perishable like an unbaked earthen vessel. Forgetting the Creator who formed, fashioned and embellished me, I have become attached to another pursuit. ||1||

(Oh Creator!) I am guilty; how can I be called holy (of high moral character). (But still) I have fallen at Your feet, seeking Your Sanctuary (so, save me). Says Kabir! Please listen to this prayer of mine, O Creator; please don’t let me get caught into the cycle of birth and death. ||2||6||

Explanation:

In this mystic song, Kabir Ji shares a common human misconception of treating the human body as infallible. With this wrong misconception, egoistic tendencies are developed, while humility does not get cultivated in life. Also, the high moral and spiritual character does not get developed, instead man adopts the path of greed and quick material gains. 

To put the nature of human life in its true characteristic, Kabir Ji reminds us of its fragile nature by comparing it to an unbaked earthen pot which can break easily. Kabir Ji says that by adopting a lifestyle of material enrichment by means fair and foul. I am really guilty of plying on the crooked path as in the process, I have forgotten my Creator who formed and fashioned me.

In the end he prays to the Creator to save him from the clutches of Yamas and cycles of reincarnations.

 

June 21, 2025

Image (c) istock.com


Bhupinder Singh
Illustration by Bhupinder Singh
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