Kabir Quotes

The Kazi is searching the words of the Koran, and instructing others:
but if his heart be not steeped in that love, what does it avail, though he be a teacher of men?

Do you believe there is some place that will make thesoul less thirsty? In that great absence you will find nothing.

The river and its waves are one surf: where is the difference between the river and its waves?
When the wave rises, it is the water; and when it falls, it is the same water again. Tell me, Sir, where is the distinction?
Because it has been named as wave, shall it no longer be considered as water?
Within the Supreme Brahma, the worlds are being told like beads:
Look upon that rosary with the eyes of wisdom.

Reading books everyone died, none became any wise.
One who reads the word of Love, only becomes wise.

Sing such a song with all of your heart that you'll never have to sing again.

When the flower opens, the bees will come.

The essence of life is in remembering God.

You kill life and call it an act of religion. Then what is irreligion?

What is a holy person? The one who is aware of others' suffering.

The fish in the water is racked by thirst: I hear about it and burst out laughing. What you are looking for is right at home and yet you roam from forest to forest, full of gloom . . .

Go over and over your beads, paint weird designs on your forehead, wear your hear matted, long, and ostentatious, but when deep inside you there is a loaded gun, how can you have God?

As jolaha ka maram na jana, jinh jag ani pasarinhh tana;
dharti akas dou gad khandaya, chand surya dou nari banaya;
sahastra tar le purani puri, ajahu bine kathin hai duri;
kahai kabir karm se jori, sut kusut bine bhal kori;
No one could understand the secret of this weaver who, coming into existence, spread the warp as the world; He fixed the earth and the sky as the pillars, and he used the sun and the moon as two shuttles; He took thousands of stars and perfected the cloth; but even today he weaves, and the end is difficult to fathom.
Kabir says that the weaver, getting good or bad yarn and connecting karmas with it, weaves beautifully.

There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatman.
There is not even a rope to tow the boat, and no one to pull it.
There is no earth, no sky, no time, no thing, no shore, no ford!

The world will die, but I shall not die.If God dies, then I will die;If he does not die, then why should I die?

You have slept millions and millions of years.
Why not wake up this morning?

The Lord is in me, the Lord is in you,as life is in every seed, put false pride away and seek the Lord within..

A diamond was laying in the street covered with dirt. Many fools passed by. Someone who knew diamonds picked it up.

If by worshipping stones one can find God, I shall worship a mountain. If by immersion in the water salvation be attained, the frogs who bathe continually would attain it. As the frogs, so are these men, again and again fall into the womb.

It is the spirit of the quest which helps

My Beloved One gleams like the lightning flash in the sky.

Are you looking for me?
I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas,
not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues,
nor in cathedrals:
not in masses,
nor kirtans,
not in legs winding around your own neck,
nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me,
you will see me instantly
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.

Take a pitcher full of water and set it down in the water-now it has water inside and water outside. We mustn't give it a name, lest silly people start talking again about the body and the soul.

Whether I be in the temple or in the balcony, in the camp or the flower garden, I tell you truly that every moment my Lord is taking His delight in me.

If I make the seven oceans ink, if I make the trees my pen, if I make the earth my paper, the glory of God cannot be written.

Forgiveness is a game only saints play Kabir.

The instruction of the foolish is a waste of knowledge; soap cannot wash charcoal white.

It is time to put up a love-swing!
Tie the body and then tie the mind so that they
swing between the arms of the Secret One you love,
Bring the water that falls from the clouds to your eyes,
and cover yourself inside entirely with the shadow of night.
Bring your face up close to his ear,
and then talk only about what you want deeply to happen.

The stone neither speaks nor gives anything. Therefore its service is fruitless and its worship is of no avail.

I talk to my inner lover, and I say, why such rush?
We sense that there is some sort of spirit that loves
birds and animals and the ants
perhaps the same one who gave a radiance to you
in your mother's womb.
Is it logical you would be walking around entirely orphaned now?
The truth is you turned away yourself,
and decided to go into the dark alone.
Now you are tangled up in others, and have forgotten
what you once knew,
and that's why everything you do has some weird sense of failure in it.

I do not quote from the scriptures;
I simply see what I see.

But if a mirror ever makes
you sad
you should know
that it does
not know
you.

Wear a crown of flowers on your head, let its roots reach your heart

There the whole sky is filled with sound, and there that music is
made without fingers and without strings;
There the game of pleasure and pain does not cease.
Kabir says: "If you merge your life in the Ocean of Life, you
will find your life in the Supreme Land of Bliss.

Tahiya hote pavan nahin pani, tahiya srishti kown utpati;
tahiya hote kali nahin phula, tahiya hote garbh nahi mula;
tahiya hote vidya nahin Veda, tahiya hote shabd nahin swada;
tahiya hote pind nahin basu,
nahin dhar dharni na pavan akasu;
tahiya hote guru nahin chela, gamya agamya na panth duhela.
Sakhi: avigati ki gati ka kahown, jake gawn na thawn
gun bihuna pekhana, ka kahi lijai nawn
In that state there is no air or water, and no creation or creator; There is no bud or flower, and no fetus or semen; There is no education or Vedas, and no word or taste; There is no body or settlement, and no earth, air or space; There is no guru or disciple, and no easy or difficult path.
Sakhi: That state is very strange. I cannot explain it. It has no village or resting place. That state is without gunas (qualities). What name can on give it?

If you haven't experienced it, it's not true.

साधो, देखो जग बौराना ।
साँची कही तो मारन धावै, झूठे जग पतियाना ।
हिन्दू कहत,राम हमारा, मुसलमान रहमाना ।
आपस में दौऊ लड़ै मरत हैं, मरम कोई नहिं जाना ।

Saints, I see
The world is mad
If I tell the truth
They rush to beat me
If I lie they trust me

Hindus claim Ram as the one
Muslims claims Raheem
Then they kill eachother
Knowing not the essence

Look upon life and death; there is no separation between them,
The right hand and the left hand are one and the same.
Kabîr says: "There the wise man is speechless; for this truth may
never be found in Vedas or in books.

Oh beloved, seeking and searching the seeker is lost. And the ocean has fallen into the dewdrop; now it is impossible to find it.

A learned man's knowledge will be of no avail to him if he doesn't have control over his tongue

If you make love with the divine now, in the next lifeyou will have the face of satisfied desire.

Just throw away all thoughts of
imaginary things,
and stand firm in that which you are.

Stand firm in that which you are.

God, provide me with enough sustenance that my family is taken care of, that neither I remain hungry, nor does my guest go unfed.

O friend! hope for Him whilst you live, know whilst you live,
understand whilst you live: for in life deliverance abides.
If your bonds be not broken whilst living, what hope of deliverance in death?

Many have died; you also will die. The drum of death is being beaten. The world has fallen in love with a dream. Only sayings of the wise will remain.

One love it is that pervades the whole world, few there are who know it fully: They are blind who hope to see it by the light of reason, that reason which is the cause of separation - The house of reason is very far away!

Be strong then, and enter into your own body; there you have a solid place for your feet.

The home is the abiding place; in the home is reality; the home helps to attain Him Who is real. So stay where you are, and all things shall come to you in time.

The truth of love is the truth of the universe: it is the lamp of the soul that reveals the secrets of darkness

Nada is found within. It is a music without strings which plays in the body. It penetrates the inner and outer and leads you away from illusion.

There is dew
on these poems in the morning,
and at night a cool breeze may rise from them.
In the winter they are blankets, in the summer a place to swim.
I like talking to you like this. Have you moved
a step closer?
Soon we may be
kissing.

I went in search of a bad person; I found none as I, seeing myself, found me the worst.

The man who is kind and who practices righteousness, who remains passive against the affairs of the world, who considers all creatures on earth as his own self, he attains the Immortal Being; the true God is ever with him.

What is seen is not the Truth
What is cannot be said
Trust comes not without seeing
Nor understanding without words
The wise comprehends with knowledge
To the ignorant it is but a wonder
Some worship the formless God
Some worship his various forms
In what way He is beyond these attributes
Only the Knower knows
That music cannot be written
How can then be the notes
Say Kabir, awareness alone will overcome illusion.

As the river surrenders itself to the ocean, what is inside me moves inside you.

Be quiet in your mind, quiet in your senses, and also quiet in your body. Then, when all these are quiet, don't do anything. In that state truth will reveal itself to you.

If you cannot understand something, then you have understood it incorrectly.

My heart is so intoxicated with love that I have no wish to speak.

You have left Your Beloved and are thinking of others:
and this is why your work is in vain.

When you feel most alive, find out why, This is one guest you won't greet twice.

Within the body there is played
Music unending, though without stringed instruments
That music of the Word pervades the entire creation
Who listens to it is freed from all illusion

Kabir says, only they are pure who've completely cleansed their thinking.

Do what you do with another human being, but never put them out of your heart.

Now I have no caste, no creed,
I am no more what I am!

He is the real Guru Who can reveal the form of the formless before your eyes; who teaches the simple path, without rites or ceremonies; Who does not make you close your doors, and hold your breath, and renounce the world; Who makes you perceive the Supreme Spirit whenever the mind attaches itself; Who teaches you to be still in the midst of all your activities. Fearless, always immersed in bliss, he keeps the spirit of yoga in the midst of enjoyments.

Listen to your own Self. If you listen to that Self within, then you find the Truth.

I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty.
You don't grasp the fact that what is most alive of all is inside your own house;
and you walk from one holy city to the next with a confused look!
Kabir will tell you the truth: go wherever you like, to Calcutta or Tibet;
if you can't find where your soul is hidden,
for you the world will never be real!

Though One Brahman is the Cause of the Many ... Behold but One in all things it is the second that leads you astray.

There's a moon in my body, but I can't see it! A moon and a sun.
A drum never touched by hands, beating, and I can't hear it!

The purpose of labor is to learn;
when you know it, the labor is over.

As long as a human being worries about when he will die, and what he has that is his,
all of his works are zero.
When affection for the I-creature and what it owns is dead,
then the work of the Teacher is over.

Do not keep the slanderer away,
treat him with affection and honor:
Body and soul, he scours all clean,
babbling about this and that.

I sell mirrors in the city of the blind.

Seeking Why run around sprinkling holy water? There's an ocean inside you, and when you're ready you'll drink.

So long as man clamours for the I and Mine, his works are as naught: When all love of the I and the Mine is dead, then the work of the Lord is done.

The river that flows in you also flows in me.

As long as I talked unceasingly about the Lord,The Lord stayed away, kept at a distance.But when I silenced my mouth, sat very stillAnd fixed my mind at the doorway of the Lord,I was linked to the music of the Word,And all my talking came to an end.

Inside this clay jug there are canyons and pine mountains,
and the maker of canyons and mountains!
All seven oceans are inside, and hundreds of millions of stars.

If it were possible to meet the Beloved while laughing and in a state of comfort, why should one suffer the anguish of separation?

Only in the heart can one experience the divine presence of truth.

Wherever you are is the entry point

Wherever you are, that's the entry point.

The Beloved is inside you and also inside me. You know the tree is hidden inside the seed. Let your arrogance go. None of us has gone far. Inside love there is more power than we realize.

I laugh when I hear the fish in the water is thirsty.