Kabir: Within this earthen vessel

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Within this earthen vessel

Kabir, Kabir poetry, Muslim / Sufi, Muslim / Sufi poetry, poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, Yoga / Hindu poetry

by Kabir
(15th Century) Timeline

English version by
Rabindranath Tagore

Original Language
Hindi

Muslim / Sufi

Yoga / Hindu

15th Century

Within this earthen vessel are bowers and groves, and within it is the Creator:
Within this vessel are the seven oceans and the unnumbered stars.
The touchstone and the jewel-appraiser are within;
And within this vessel the Eternal soundeth, and the spring wells up.
Kabir says: "Listen to me, my Friend! My beloved Lord is within."

-- from One Hundred Poems of Kabir: Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, by Kabir / Translated by Rabindranath Tagore

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Themes

Lover and Beloved

Sound

Spring Blossom

Water

Recommended Books

	The Bijak of Kabir, Translated by Linda Hess / Translated by Shukdeo Singh
	The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell
	Islamic Mystical Poetry: Sufi Verse from the Early Mystics to Rumi, Translated by Mahmood Jamal
	The Kabir Book: Forty-Four fo the Ecstatic Poems of Kabir, Translated by Robert Bly
	Kabir: The Weaver's Songs, by Kabir / Translated by Vinay Dharwadker

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With this verse, Kabir is reminding us of the miracle that this "earthen vessel" -- the seemingly limited and problematic physical body -- can contain all the "bowers and groves" of creation. And at the center of that garden rests the Creator.

Within are the "seven oceans," the seven chakras that must be traversed by the rising Kundalini energy.

Within is found the "touchstone," that which proves the value of the earthen vessel. And within is found the "jewel-appraiser," the One Who Knows the value of the vessel. The body is a holy object, a priceless treasure, so long as it has been alchemically transmuted by the jewel-appraiser's touch.

Within is the eternal sound that hums in silence beneath the noise of the mind. Within is the life-giving spring.

It is a puzzle the logical mind cannot resolve: the Eternal One, who encompasses all things, is found within the limited compass of the body. Kabir is shouting in ecstasy, "Look within! Look within!"

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