Kabir, Day 30

 

Quotes that I crossed paths with:
It would little avail to ask how we know. That would be like asking how we know that Beethoven’s “Hymn to Joy” is joyous. If a man were to say, “It is not joyous to me,” he would not condemn the music; he would tell only his morbidness. There is no logic to establish an axiom, for an axiom is the basis of all logic; and the soul of Jesus has axiomatic truth. Jesus is light, and there is no proof for light except light itself. 
– George Buttrick

“The man who has met God is not looking for something – he has found it; he is not searching for light – upon him the Light has already shined.”
-A.W. Tozer 

..and now, Kabir, day 30: 

The couplet, transliterated: 
Tin sanehi bahu milai, chautha mila na koi |
Sabahu piyaare ram kai, baithe parbas hoi || 

Translation (from G.N. Das):
Many long for honor, wealth and lust
None for salvation |
Those who do, they remain lost
In His love and devotion || 

My understanding:
Salvation is not a goal for most of humanity. Bound by the knots of power, wealth and lust, they have no space in their mind to accommodate the demands of salvation. This trinity (wealth, power and lust) of this world, that was created by men, for men and can only serve limited purpose in life, however manages to grow in size to take up all of our time in this limited life. 

Listen to those around us talk, and pay careful attention to garner that which is not being said. Is the complaint about the food, the preparer or the overall experience itself? As I do this inspection more often, one thing that strikes me is the amount of ego around us – for every individual, the world, at some level, is all about and only about us – the big ME.

Takes me back to another popular couplet from school –
“For every finger I point at my neighbor,
There are three more pointing back at me.”

Means, that every time I listen to those around me, I need to pay three – nay, thirty – times more attention to my own petty (well, by now, anyways) complaints. 

Then I turn attention to the Lord – he has to listen to ALL of us – and he still loves us! So why can I not be more tolerant of my neighbor and the passing stranger? Pass on a little love and compassion, and the world will pay back in huge multiples – my personal experience is proof. And it is in this light, this love, that God exists!

True power and wealth come not when we have or control everything, but rather when we are able to relinquish everything that we have, and are able to allow each one of God’s creation the full freedom of their own will, to do what they will or must.