Today’s thought – at the dawn of the new year:
A new year is upon us, a new vista awaits
A full year of unknown promise beyond the gates
More relations to cement, more new mates
A day at a time to fill so many more plates…
As we step out, apart, yet joined in purpose,
(For who wants for all and self but better and happier)
A wish for a new year so full and so peerless,
We will join next year in wonder matchless!
– Mani
And now Kabir day 18 (18 is a special number in my mind, so I held off on sending yesterday to reserve the day for the 1st day of the new year)…
The couplet transliterated:
Dekho karm Kabir ka, kachoo purab janam ka lekh |
Jaka mahal na muni lahai, so dosat kiya alekh ||
Translation:
Scan the deeds of the present life, and deeds of the one past |
One will perceive what saints could not, by befriending the unknown ||
My understanding:
This is the perfect couplet (in my mind) to start the new year with. Kabir, the illiterate** and yet most enlightened soul, here describes the way to put our best foot forward in life. Kabir is taking us by hand and asking us to inspect the unknown and the un-comprehended in life to better understand our purpose in life and define our way forward.
Our past deeds are our experience in this life, and reading into what Kabir says, our instincts (our natural reactions before any experience has had the opportunity to define/moderate/change them) are defined by our past existence or previous life. No matter what our belief in reincarnation and lives past, Kabir’s advice makes complete sense – our days past till now are our best teaching for the best step forward. Spending some time in introspection of the past will enlighten us on what will be the best way to make the next day, the next year and the rest of our life our best experience yet.
Looked at in this light, the unknown Kabir refers to in the couplet is the Lord, God, the Supreme Being. Man’s comprehension is too small to fully comprehend the full glory of the Lord Supreme, and hence, God remains The Great Unknown. However, God resides inside all of us, and hence a proper introspection will explain to us what we have been searching for outside of us all along. This, then, is when we understand what even the greatest saints could not explain to us in all the collected books of wisdom.
Here then, Kabir is telling us that we hold within us all our solutions we need, and all the advice we require, if only we look within.
** Kabir, a weaver by profession, was known to be unable to read or write, and hence, by modern definition, illiterate. Yet this journey of 45 days is showing each day the enlightened soul within that weaver. Which brings to the fore a question – how do we define literacy? Are statistical definitions enough? What is true knowledge? How does one explain something as complex as life in simple staid words? Do respond with your thoughts!
Thank you, and Happy New 2009 to all!