July 2023- Swami Ramdas, Kabir's poems

 By a complete surrender to the 'Will of Ram', 

we lose consciousness of the body 

which keeps us aloof from Him,

 and find ourselves in a state of complete identification and union with Ram.

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who is in us and everywhere around us. 

 In this condition, hatred which means consciousness of diversity, ceases, and 

Love, consciousness of Unity, is realised. 

This Divine Love can be attained by humbling ourselves to such a degree as to totally subdue our egoism, 

our self-assertion as a separate individual existence. 

Having reached this stage, we, by the awakened consciousness of Unity or Love, are naturally prompted to sacrifice all the interests that concern the body, 

for the welfare of our fellow-men and fellow-creatures who are all manifestations of the same Ram.

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Kabir's poems:

https://mypoeticside.com/show-classic-poem-14420

I said to the wanting-creature inside me:
What is this river you want to cross?
There are no travelers on the river-road, and no road.
Do you see anyone moving about on that bank, or nesting?

There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatman.
There is no tow rope either, and no one to pull it.
There is no ground, no sky, no time, no bank, no ford!

And there is no body, and no mind!
Do you believe there is some place that will make the
soul less thirsty?
In that great absence you will find nothing.

Be strong then, and enter into your own body;
there you have a solid place for your feet.
Think about it carefully!
Don't go off somewhere else!

Kabir says this: just throw away all thoughts of
imaginary things,
and stand firm in that which you are.

.......

Awareness alone will overcome illusion.

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Where do you search me?
I am with you
Not in pilgrimage, nor in icons
Neither in solitudes
Not in temples, nor in mosques
Neither in Kaba nor in Kailash
I am with you O man
I am with you
Not in prayers, nor in meditation
Neither in fasting
Not in yogic exercises
Neither in renunciation
Neither in the vital force nor in the body
Not even in the ethereal space
Neither in the womb of Nature
Not in the breath of the breath
Seek earnestly and discover
In but a moment of search
Says Kabir, Listen with care
Where your faith is, I am there.

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Within the Supreme Brahma, the worlds are being told like beads:
Look upon that rosary with the eyes of wisdom.

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PLAYED day and night with my comrades, and now I am greatly afraid.
So high is my Lord's palace, my heart trembles to mount its stairs: yet I must not be shy, if I would enjoy His love.
My heart must cleave to my Lover; I must withdraw my veil, and meet Him with all my body:
Mine eyes must perform the ceremony of the lamps of love.
Kabîr says: "Listen to me, friend: he understands who loves. If you feel not love's longing for your Beloved One, it is vain to adorn your body, vain to put unguent on your eyelids."

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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

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O HOW may I ever express that secret word?
O how can I say He is not like this, and He is like that?
If I say that He is within me, the universe is ashamed:
If I say that He is without me, it is falsehood.
He makes the inner and the outer worlds to be indivisibly one;
The conscious and the unconscious, both are His footstools.
He is neither manifest nor hidden, He is neither revealed nor unrevealed:
There are no words to tell that which He is.

.........

I went looking for Him
And lost myself;
The dropp merged with the Sea -
Who can find it now?

Looking and looking for Him
I lost myself;
The Sea merged with the dropp -
Who can find it now?

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My body is flooded
With the flame of Love.
My soul lives in
A furnace of bliss.

Love's fragrance
Fills my mouth,
And fans through all things
With each outbreath.

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Kabîr says, "O brother! he who has seen that radiance of love, he is saved."

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In the quest of god addn :

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The young plant of Bhakti in Ram was thus nurtured in the electric atmosphere created by the influence of these great men on the mind of humble Ramdas. It was at this time that it slowly dawned upon his mind that Ram was the only Reality and all else was false. Whilst desires for the enjoyment of worldly things were fast falling off, the consideration of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ was also wearing out. The sense of possession and relationship was vanishing. All thought, all mind, all heart, all soul was concentrated on Ram, Ram covering up and absorbing everything.

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