Brother, The storm of wisdom has hit us

Source (Verse 52)


Translation (Source)
Brother, The storm of wisdom has hit us.
The screens of pretense are blown away, The ropes of maya have snapped.
The ridgepole of delusion is broken, The poles of two-mindedness have collapsed.
Smashing them to bits, The roof of desire has fallen On the vessels of wickedness.
After the storm, A drizzling rain, soaking me through and through.

Seeing that dawn, says Kabir, My mind lit up.

All the way to heaven

Source (Verse 81)

Translation (Source)
Listen carefully,
Neither the Vedas Nor the Qur’an Will teach you this:
Put the bit in its mouth, The saddle on its back,
Your foot in the stirrup, And ride your wild runaway mind
All the way to heaven

When greed hits you like a wave

Source (Verse 92)

Translation (Source)
When greed hits you like a wave
 You don’t need water to drown.
Whether it’s a king on his throne Or a pretty queen,
A chanting pundit Or a miracle-working yogi,
They’ll all die by drowning In a waterless sea.

Who survives? 
The ones whose minds, Kabir says, Are tied to rocks.

The mind’s a shortchanging Huckster

Source (Verse 93)

Translation (Source)
The mind’s a shortchanging Huckster with a crafty Wife and five Scoundrel children.
It won’t change its ways.
The mind’s a knot, says Kabir, Not easy to untie.

कैसें नगर करौ कुटवारी

Source (Verse 120)


कैसें नगर करौ कुटवारी
मांसु पसारि गीध रखवारी  ॥ टेक ॥ 
बैल बियाइ गाइ भई बांझ । बछरहिं दूहै तीनिउँ सांझ  ॥ १ ॥
मूसा खेवट नाव बिलइया । सोवै दादुर सर्प पहरिया ॥ २ ॥ 
नित उठि स्यार सिंघ सौं जूझै  । कहै कबीर कोई बिरला बूझै  ॥ ३॥

Translation (Source)

How do you,
Ask the chief of police,
Patrol a city
Where the butcher shops Are guarded by vultures;
Where bulls get pregnant, Cows are barren,
And calves give milk Three times a day;
Where mice are boatmen And tomcats the boats They row;
Where frogs keep snakes As watchdogs,
And jackals Go after lions?
Does anyone know What I’m talking about? Says Kabir.Translation (Source)
Hess, who has translated this poem, offers the following interpretation: The commentators have provided a meaning for nearly every word in the poem, but we shall approach it from a particular standpoint, as a statement about the problem of the mind—mana.... [The poem] states, in its oblique way, that the mind cannot solve the problem since the mind is the problem. It is like making a vulture the watchman over a meat-strewn city. It is like appointing a snake as protector of frogs. In such a town can we even talk of a sheriff to round up criminals? Who could be sheriff? Kabir shoots the question at us, following it with a rapid-fire series of impossible images, then bringing us up short, before we have had a chance to note how many times our heads have whirled, with a sudden conclusion: “Kabir says, rare listeners / hear the song right.” (The Bijak of Kabir, pp. 152–54)

है कोई गुरु ग्यांनीं जगत महिं

Source (Verse 137)
है कोई गुरु ग्यांनीं जगत महिं उलटि बेद बूभै ।
पनिआं महिं पावक जरै अँधै प्रांखिन सूझै  ॥टेक॥
गाइ नाहर खाइयौ हरिनि खायौ चीता ।
काग लंगर फांदिया बटेरै बाज जीता ॥ १ ॥
मूस तौ मंजार खायौ स्यारि खायौ स्वांनां ।
आदि कौ उदेस जांनैं तासु बीस बांनां ॥ २ ॥
एक ही दादुल खायौ पांच हूँ भुवंगा ।
कहै कबीर पुकारि कै हैं दोऊ एक संगा ॥ ३ ॥

Translation (Source)
Is there a man so clever Who’ll explain this Topsy-turvy Veda?
Water catches fire; The blind can see;
A frog swallows five cobras. A buffalo carries off a tiger;
A goat eats a wolf; A deer kills a cheetah.
A quail gets the better of a falcon; A mouse of a cat;
A jackal of a terrier.

Respectfully, With palms folded, I offer this song To the lord, says Kabir. 

एक अचम्भौ देखा रे भाई

Source (Verse 116)

एक अचम्भौ  देखा रे भाई ।
ठाढ़ा सिंघ चरावै गाई ।।  टेक ॥
पहिलै पूत पिछै भई माई । चेला कै गुर लागै पाई ॥ १ ॥
जल की मछरी तरवरि ब्याई । कूता कौं लै गई बिलाई ॥ २ ॥
बैलहिं डारि गोंनि घरि आई। घोरै चढ़ि भैस चरावन जाई॥ ३॥
तलि करि पत्ता (?) उपरि करि मूल। बहुत भांति जड़ लागे फूल ॥४॥
कहै कबीर या पद कौं बूभै । ताकौं तीनिउँ त्रिभुवन सूभै ॥ ५ ॥

Translation(Source)

Brother, I’ve seen some Astonishing sights:
A lion keeping watch Over pasturing cows;
A mother delivered After her son was;
A guru prostrated Before his disciple;
Fish spawning On treetops;
 A cat carrying away A dog;
A gunny-sack Driving a bullock-cart;
A buffalo going out to graze, Sitting on a horse;
A tree with its branches in the earth, Its roots in the sky;
A tree with flowering roots.

This verse, says Kabir, Is your key to the universe.
If you can figure it out.