Sacred texts · Hinduism
39 Kabir quotes from Songs of Kabir (Tagore, 1915)
Kabir was a fifteenth-century poet-mystic of Benares, a weaver by trade, whose songs are sung to this day across northern India. Revered by Hindus, by Sikhs, whose scripture includes many of his verses, and by Muslims, he rejected outward ritual and caste and spoke of a God found within. His poems are short, direct and often playful.
This page quotes Songs of Kabir, an English version of one hundred of his poems by Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, with Evelyn Underhill, published in 1915. It is now in the public domain, and every line was checked word for word against it. The numbers refer to the poems in that collection. A French version of these poems exists, but Selfia holds too few passages from it for a French page. Kabir’s sayings in the Guru Granth Sahib appear on the Guru Granth Sahib quotes page.
Kabir quotes on seeking God within
The thread running through Kabir’s songs is that what we seek far away is already near: the musk is in the deer, the jewel lost in the mud, the Lord within the seeker. These poems gently mock pilgrimages and outward searches, and turn the reader back toward the heart.
O servant, where dost thou seek Me? Lo! I am beside thee.
If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time. Kabîr says, “O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath.”
The moon shines in my body, but my blind eyes cannot see it: The moon is within me, and so is the sun.
The musk is in the deer, but it seeks it not within itself: it wanders in quest of grass.
Your Lord is near: yet you are climbing the palm-tree to seek Him.
Your Lord dwells within you: why need your outward eyes be opened?
I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty: You do not see that the Real is in your home, and you wander from forest to forest listlessly!
The jewel is lost in the mud, and all are seeking for it; Some look for it in the east, and some in the west; some in the water and some amongst stones. But the servant Kabîr has appraised it at its true value, and has wrapped it with care in the end of the mantle of his heart.
The Lord is in me, the Lord is in you, as life is in every seed. O servant! put false pride away, and seek for Him within you.
Be strong, and enter into your own body: for there your foothold is firm. Consider it well, O my heart! go not elsewhere, Kabîr says: “Put all imaginations away, and stand fast in that which you are.”
Love and the Beloved
Kabir speaks of God as the Beloved, a guest in the house, a lover with whom the bond has lasted “from the beginning until the ending of time.” His love poetry is joyful, full of music and dancing, and wary of any religion that keeps the eyes closed to the beauty of the world.
From the beginning until the ending of time, there is love between Thee and me; and how shall such love be extinguished?
The flute of the Infinite is played without ceasing, and its sound is love: When love renounces all limits, it reaches truth.
Dance, my heart! dance to-day with joy. The strains of love fill the days and the nights with music, and the world is listening to its melodies.
This day is dear to me above all other days, for to-day the Beloved Lord is a guest in my house.
O my heart! the Supreme Spirit, the great Master, is near you: wake, oh wake! Run to the feet of your Beloved: for your Lord stands near to your head. You have slept for unnumbered ages; this morning will you not wake?
Why so impatient, my heart? He who watches over birds, beasts, and insects, He who cared for you whilst you were yet in your mother’s womb, Shall He not care for you now that you are come forth?
The Beggar goes a-begging, but I could not even catch sight of Him: And what shall I beg of the Beggar He gives without my asking. Kabîr says: “I am His own: now let that befall which may befall!”
He who has seen Him and touched Him, he is freed from all fear and trouble.
I shut not my eyes, I close not my ears, I do not mortify my body; I see with eyes open and smile, and behold His beauty everywhere.
Awake while you live
For Kabir, liberation is not something to wait for after death: “in life deliverance abides.” These songs urge the reader to wake up now, put pride and clever words away, and keep truth, detachment and love within. Some of them praise the home and ordinary life as a place of awakening.
O friend! hope for Him whilst you live, know whilst you live, understand whilst you live: for in life deliverance abides.
Lamps burn in every house, O blind one! and you cannot see them. One day your eyes shall suddenly be opened, and you shall see: and the fetters of death will fall from you.
O friend, awake, and sleep no more! The night is over and gone, would you lose your day also?
O man, if thou dost not know thine own Lord, whereof art thou so proud? Put thy cleverness away: mere words shall never unite thee to Him.
The man who is kind and who practises righteousness, who remains passive amidst 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.
Let the weary come and lay his burdens here! So live here, my brother, that you may cross with ease to that other shore.
Keep within you truth, detachment, and love.
When at last you are come to the ocean of happiness, do not go back thirsty.
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 land beyond sorrow
The last group gathers Kabir’s visions: a land where no doubt nor sorrow has rule, the river and its waves that are one, a light of a million suns. Tagore and Underhill kept their imagery whole, and these poems are among the most quoted in their collection.
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. Kabîr says: “Listen to me, my Friend! My beloved Lord is within.”
There is a land where no doubt nor sorrow have rule: where the terror of Death is no more.
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.
Behold what wonderful rest is in the Supreme Spirit! and he enjoys it, who makes himself meet for it.
If you merge your life in the Ocean of Life, you will find your life in the Supreme Land of Bliss.
I speak truth, for I have accepted truth in life; I am now attached to truth, I have swept all tinsel away.
It is like the lotus, which lives in the water and blooms in the water: yet the water cannot touch its petals, they open beyond its reach.
I have stilled my restless mind, and my heart is radiant: for in Thatness I have seen beyond That-ness. In company I have seen the Comrade Himself. Living in bondage, I have set myself free: I have broken away from the clutch of all narrowness.
Ever immersed in bliss, having no fear in his mind, he keeps the spirit of union in the midst of all enjoyments.
There it is ever moonlight and never dark; and who speaks of one sun only? that land is illuminate with the rays of a million suns.
Beneath the great umbrella of my King millions of suns and moons and stars are shining! He is the Mind within my mind: He is the Eye within mine eye.
How to read Kabir
Kabir’s poems were made to be sung, so read them aloud, slowly, letting the repetitions do their work. Many end with “Kabir says,” where the poet steps in to sum up; that last line is often the one to keep.
Choose one poem from the first group when you feel you are searching everywhere for something: it will send you back to yourself. The third group suits mornings, with its call to wake up. Tagore’s translation is free in places, so treat each line as a door into Kabir rather than his exact words in Hindi.
In the Selfia app, the Hinduism path (Settings › Spirituality) adds passages from Hindu texts, including Kabir, in a separate section.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Kabir?
Kabir was a poet-saint of fifteenth-century India who lived in Benares (Varanasi) and worked as a weaver. Little is known for certain about his life. His songs, composed in a popular Hindi, criticize empty ritual and caste and speak of a God present in every heart. Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims all claim him as their own.
Did Tagore write these poems?
No. Rabindranath Tagore translated them into English, with the help of the English writer Evelyn Underhill, working from the Hindi text with a Bengali translation published by Kshiti Mohan Sen. The book, Songs of Kabir, appeared in 1915. The words are Kabir’s, passed through Tagore’s English, which is sometimes free. So these are Kabir quotes, not Tagore quotes, even if Tagore’s name is on the cover.
Are Kabir’s verses in the Guru Granth Sahib?
Yes. The Guru Granth Sahib, the scripture of the Sikhs, includes several hundred hymns and couplets attributed to Kabir, more than any other poet outside the Sikh Gurus. A selection of them, in Max Arthur Macauliffe’s translation, is on the Guru Granth Sahib quotes page of this site.