M ore than all else do I cherish at heart that love which makes me to live a limitless life in this world.

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quote 8409  |   Kabir

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M an's sins are the work of his heart.

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quote 8408  |   Kabir

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M an concealeth all the sins he committeth, but at last they are all disclosed.

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quote 8407  |   Kabir

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I f I say, "He is One," it is a lie; if I say, "He is two," I am guilty of slander. Kabir knows Him as He is, but cannot express Him. The devotee who can stay in that place where the Invisible and the manifest are one, Like a lamp in the doorway, illumines both what is within and what is without. As a piece of cloth is not different from the threads which comprise it, So Brahman is not different from the world, and the world is not different from Brahman. 0 Kabir, there is no difference between the world, the Creator, and Brahman; Brahman is in all and all is in Brahman. The fire is one, whether it bums in a lamp or a torch; so Brahman is all, and in Him exist all souls, God, and the world. Unity is the essence of the teachings of all the saints; Laugh at Kabir if you do not become perfect by living in accord with this truth!

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quote 3858  |   Kabir Bijak, Shastri, 1941; pp. 42-43

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T here, what form or shape is there to describe? What second, what "other," is there to see? In the beginning, there is no Aum, or Veda. Who can trace His birth? There, no sky exists, no moon or Sun; no father's seed, no air, fire, water, or earth. Who can name Him, or know His will? Who can say from whence He comes? Remembering the Void, the simple One, a light burst forth [within me]; I offer myself to that Existence who is non-existence.

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quote 3857  |   Kabir Bijak, Ramaini 6

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O scholars, you are mistaken; there's no creator or creation there [in the experience of Unity]. There's no radiant form, no time, no word, no flesh, or faith; no cause or effect, or even a thought of the Vedas. There's no Hari or Brahma, no Shiva or Shakti, no pilgrimages or rituals; There is no mother, no father, no Guru; think! Is it two or is It One? Kabir says: If you understand this, you are the teacher and I am the disciple.

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quote 3856  |   Kabir Bijak, Sabda 43

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R ama has possessed me; Hari has enchanted me! All my doubts have flown like migratory birds in winter. When I was mad with pride, the Beloved did not speak to me; But when I put on the robe of humility, the Master opened my inner eye, Dyeing every pore of my body in the color of love. Drinking the elixir from the cup of my emptied heart, I slept on His bed in divine ecstasy. The devotee meets Hari as gold meets a gold-solvent-, the pure heart melts into its Lord.

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quote 3855  |   Kabir Bijak, Shastri, 1941;p.37

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Y our Lord lives within you; what do you search for outside? Kabir says: Listen, 0 brother, the Lord who has ravished my eyes, has united Himself with me.

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quote 3854  |   Kabir Bijak, Shastri, 1941;p.46

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O brothers, the love of God is sweet! It is conferred by the Master, and grows sweeter every day. Wherever I go, I offer obeisance to the Lord; whatever I do is an act of worship to Him. In sleep, I reverence Him; I bow my head to no other. Whatever I utter is His name. Whatever I hear reminds me of Him; whatever I eat or drink is to His honor. To me, society and solitude are one; for all feelings of duality have left me. I have no need to practice austerity, for I see Him smiling everywhere as the supreme Beauty -in every form. Whether sitting, walking, or performing actions, my heart remains pure, for my mind remains fixed on God. Says Kabir: I have experienced the divine state, beyond both joy and suffering; and I am absorbed in That. 0 brothers, the love of God is sweet.

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quote 3853  |   Kabir Bijak, Shastri, 1941;p.49

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L ove based on a desire for gain is worthless. God is desireless; how could one with desire attain the Desireless? When I was conscious of individual existence, the love of the Master filled my heart; When the love of the Master filled my heart, my sense of selfhood was dissolved. 0 Kabir, this path is too narrow for two to travel .

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quote 3852  |   Kabir Bijak, Shastri, 1941;p.38

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A re you ready to cut off your head and place your foot on it? If so, come; Love awaits you! Love is not grown in a garden, nor sold in the marketplace; Whether you are a king or a servant, the price is your head, and nothing less. Yes, the cost of the elixir of love is your head! Do you hesitate? 0 miser, It is cheap at that price!

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quote 3851  |   Kabir Bijak, Shastri, 1941;p.48

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S o many bodies, so many opinions! But my Beloved, though invisible, is in all these bodies. There is no life at all without the Beloved; the Self lives as each and every one. What, then, 0 friend, are you searching for like a fool? The object of your quest is within you, as the oil is in the sesame seed. As the pupil is in the eye, so is the Lord in the body; The deluded do not know Him, and search for Him without. The lock of error shuts the gate; open it with the key of Love. By opening the door, you shall wake the Beloved. Kabir says: 0 brother, do not pass by such good fortune as this!

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quote 3850  |   Kabir Bijak, Shastri, 1941;pp.52-53,41

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D oes [the Muslim's God] Khuda, live only in the mosque? Is [the Hindu's God] Ram, only in idols and holy grounds? Have you searched and found Him there? You imagine that Hari [Vishnu] is in the East, and Allah is in the West; But search for Him only in the heart-that is where Ram and Karim both live. Which, then, is false, the Quran or the Vedas? False is the man who does not see the Truth. It is One; It is the same One in all. How can you imagine that It is two? Says Kabir: 0 Lord, every man and every woman are Your own forms; I am the simple child of Allah-Ram; He is my Guru, my Pir Brother, where did your two gods come from? Ram, Allah; Keshav, Karim; Hari, Hazrat-so many names! There may be many golden ornaments, but there is one gold; it has no two-ness in it. Merely for the sake of exposition, we make of the One, two.

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quote 3849  |   Kabir Bijak, Sabda 97&30

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T he shadows of evening grow deep while love comes in to soothe every mind and body. Look out toward the last glow of sunlight and look in to an endless sky. Drink the nectar from the petals of your heart and let wave upon wave sweep through your body. What glory in that ocean! Listen! The sound of conches! The sound of bells! Kabir says, "0 brother, listen! The Lord of all plays His song within you!"

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quote 3106  |   Kabir literal translations by Krishan Bakshi, Vinod Argawal, and Anand Mundra in Jonathan Star, the Inner Treasure, Tarcher Putnam.

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B etween the pillars of spirit and matter the mind has put up a swing. There swings the bound soul and all the worlds with not even the slightest rest. The sun and moon also swing, and there is no end to it. The soul swings through millions of births like the endless circling of the sun and moon. Billions of ages have passed with no sigh of relief The earth and sky swing, Wind and water swing, Taking a body, God Himself swings. Kabir, the servant of God, has seen it all.

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quote 3105  |   Kabir literal translations by Krishan Bakshi, Vinod Argawal, and Anand Mundra in Jonathan Star, the Inner Treasure, Tarcher Putnam

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W here do you seek me, my son? Look-I am right inside you! I am not found in the temple nor the mosque, not in Mecca nor the highest heaven. I am not found in prayer nor ritual, not in yoga nor renunciation. If your yearning is pure you will see me in an instant, you will meet me this moment. Kabir says, "0 seeker, I am right here as the breath within the breath."

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quote 3104  |   Kabir literal translations by Krishan Bakshi, Vinod Argawal, and Anand Mundra in Jonathan Star, the Inner Treasure, Tarcher Putnam.

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T he breath that does not repeat the name of God is a wasted breath.

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quote 2993  |   Kabir Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.213

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

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quote 2992  |   Kabir Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.213

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F riend, hope for the Guest while you are alive. Jump into experience while you are alive! Think … and think … while you are alive. What you call "salvation" belongs to the time before death. If you don't break your ropes while you are alive, do you think ghosts will do it after? The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic just because the body is rotten that is all fantasy. What is found now is found then. If you find nothing now, you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death. If you make love with the divine now, in the next life you will have the face of satisfied desire. Kabir says this: When the Guest is being searched for, it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest that does all the work.

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quote 2926  |   Kabir Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.256

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S peech is priceless if you speak with knowledge. Weigh it in the scales of the heart before it comes from the mouth.

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quote 2902  |   Kabir Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.81

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K abir used to say, "The formless Absolute is my Father, and God with form is my Mother." God reveals Himself in the form which His devotee loves most. His love for the devotee knows no bounds.

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quote 2682  |   Kabir Kabir, in Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna as translated into English by Swami Nikhilananda and published by the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, Copyright 1942, by Swami Nikhilananda

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O SADHU! The simple union is the best. Since the day when I met with my Lord, there has been no end to the sport of our love. 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: I utter His Name, and whatever I see, it reminds me of Him; whatever I do, it becomes His worship. The rising and the setting are one to me; all contradictions are solved. Wherever I go, I move round him, All I achieve is His service: When I lie down, I lie prostrate at His feet. He is the only adorable one to me: I have none other. My tongue has left off impure words, it sings His glory day and night: Whether I rise or sit down, I can never forget Him; for the rhythm of His music beats in my ears. Kabir says: "My heart is frenzied, and I disclose in my soul what is hidden. I am immersed in that one great bliss which transcends all pleasure and pain."

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quote 2678  |   Kabir Songs of Kabir, translated by Rabindranath Tagore (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser Inc., 1974).

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B ETWEEN THE pillars of spirit and matter the mind has put up a swing. There swings the bound soul and all the worlds with not even the slightest rest. The sun and moon also swing, and there is no end to it. The soul swings through millions of births like the endless circling of the sun and moon. Billions of ages have passed with no sigh of relief. The earth and sky swing, Wind and water swing, Taking a body, God Himself swings. Kabir, the servant of God, has seen it all. 0 brother seekers! Only while you are alive is there hope of finding Him. While you are alive, meditate. While you are alive, contemplate. Only while you are alive can liberation be found. If you do not cut the noose of your karma while living, what hope is there of liberation when you are dead? It is a hopeless dream to think that union will come after the soul leaves the body. What you get now is what you get then- Otherwise, all you get is a stay in hell. To Embrace the real, Recognize the true Guru, Have faith in the power of the Name! Kabir says, "Only spiritual practice will get you across; be addicted to this practice."

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quote 2677  |   Kabir Kabir, The Inner Treasure by jonathan Star (New York: Tarcher-Putnam, 1999).

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