“It is lack of love for ourselves that inhibits our compassion toward others. If we make friends with ourselves, then there is no obstacle to opening our hearts and minds to others.”
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Kabir – The couplet
???? ??? ??? ?? ???, ????? ?? ? ??? |
??? ????? ????? ??, ???? ?? ????? ??? ||
transliterated:
Pothi padh padh jag mua, pandit bhaya na koi |
Dhai akshar prem se, padhe so pandit hoye ||
Translation:
Reading all the books of the world, has not made a scholar ever |
A word spoken with love, has allown one to gain real wisdom||
My understanding:
I am revisiting an old favorite couplet – but going a few layers deeper (at least to my perspective).
Knowledge is not the true path to wisdom – knowledge only fills us up with facts and information. Love allows us to empathise, and hence leads to compassion. When we practice compassion, we gain an understanding – why the flower flower, why a child cries, why our friend frowns. This compassion allows us to share our own being and become part of the solution rather than create a new problem.
That, then, leads to true wisdom. Love creates empathy, which generates compassion, and compassion generates understanding , which is the soul of real wisdom.
So the sage Kabir has once again proved his intense depth – there is more hidden in this simple couplet than all the riches of the legendary Atlantis!