We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
– Plato
Kabir – The couplet
तिमिर गया रवि देखते, कुमति गयी गुरु ज्ञान ।
सुमति गयी अति लोभति, भक्ति गयी अभिमान ॥
transliterated:
timir gaya ravi dekhate, kumati gayi guru gyan |
sumati gayi ati lobhate, bhakti gayi abhiman ||
Translation:
Darkness disappears when the sun arises, ignorance goes away by the Guru’s wisdom|
Good intellect is lost because of greed, and devotion is lost because of ego||
My understanding:
A smile can dispel the most somber of moods. A flicker of light can change the darkness in an entire valley.
As we were growing up, our accumulated learning gave us new perspectives on life and our environment. We were told, all the while, that the new learning came with responsibility, and that we would constantly need to discern and choose.
Some take the easy path – we choose easy over right. Others feel fatigued by the constant demand to choose, and just let things happen – they choose not to choose. A few stand up to battle the onslaught, but we seem to see them falter at some point and get run over. So we treat that as the inevitable outcome, and choose to take the easy path in return for the momentary instant gratification. For the other choice seem to be doomed to failure.
What we DO NOT see, however, is that those who stand up to the onslaught do not get knocked over – they win and are lifted to a higher plane, which, in our current state we do not have access to or knowledge of. Standing on the ground, we do not have access to the vista that the birds relish as a matter of course.
Kabir is extolling us not to despair, but to take shelter in the grace of the guru, and use that shelter to gather strength to stand up rather than give in.