III. 48. tu surat nain nihar
OPEN YOUR eyes of love, and see Him who pervades this world! consider it well, and know that this is your own country.
When you meet the true Guru, He will awaken your heart;
He will tell you the secret of love and detachment, and then you will know indeed that He transcends this universe.
This world is the City of Truth, its maze of paths enchants the heart:
We can reach the goal without crossing the road, such is the sport unending.
Where the ring of manifold joys ever dances about Him, there is the sport of Eternal Bliss.
When we know this, then all our receiving and renouncing is over;
Thenceforth the heat of having shall never scorch us more.
He is the Ultimate Rest unbounded:
He has spread His form of love throughout all the world.
From that Ray which is Truth, streams of new forms are perpetually springing: and He pervades those forms.
All the gardens and groves and bowers are abounding with blossom; and the air breaks forth into ripples of joy.
There the swan plays a wonderful game,
There the Unstruck Music eddies around the Infinite One;
There in the midst the Throne of the Unheld is shining, whereon the great Being sits
Millions of suns are shamed by the radiance of a single hair of His body.
On the harp of the road what true melodies are being sounded! And its notes pierce the heart:
There the Eternal Fountain is playing its endless life-streams of birth and death.
They call Him Emptiness who is the Truth of truths, in Whom all truths are stored!
There within Him creation goes forward, which is beyond all philosophy; for philosophy cannot attain to Him:
There is an endless world, O my Brother! and there is the Nameless Being, of whom nought can be said.
Only he knows it who has reached that region: it is other than all that is heard and said.
No form, no body, no length, no breadth is seen there: how can I tell you that which it is?
He comes to the Path of the Infinite on whom the grace of the Lord descends: he is freed from births arid deaths who attains to Him.
Kabir says: 'It cannot be told by the words of the mouth, it cannot be written on paper:
It is like a dumb person who tastes a sweet thinghow shall it be explained?'

JOY FREED from the bond of earth's slumber
rushes into numberless leaves,
and dances in the air for a day.

IN THE DEPTHS of the forest the ascetic practised penance with fast-closed eyes; he intended to deserve Paradise.
        But the girl who gathered twigs brought him fruits in her skirt, and water from the stream in cups made of leaves.
        The days went on, and his penance grew harsher till the fruits remained untasted, the water untouched: and the girl who gathered twigs was sad.
The Lord of Paradise heard that a man had dared to aspire to be as the Gods. Time after time he had fought the Titans, who were his peers, and kept them out of his kingdom; yet he feared a man whose power was that of suffering.
        But he knew the ways of mortals, and he planned a temptation to decoy this creature of dust away from his adventure.
A breath from Paradise kissed the limbs of the girl who gathered twigs, and her youth ached with a sudden rapture of beauty, and her thoughts hummed like the bees of a rifled hive.
        The time came when the ascetic should leave the forest for a mountain cave, to complete the rigour of his penance.
        When he opened his eyes in order to start on this journey, the girl appeared to him like a verse familiar, yet forgotten, and which an added melody made strange. The ascetic rose from his seat and told her that it was time he left the forest.
        'But why rob me of my chance to serve you?' she asked with tears in her eyes.
He sat down again, thought for long, and remained on where he was.
That night remorse kept the girl awake. She began to dread her power and hate hertriumph, yet her mind tossed on the waves of turbulent delight.
        In the morning she came and saluted the ascetic and asked his blessing, saying she must leave him.
        He gazed on her face in silence, then said, 'Go, and may your wish be fulfilled.'
        For years he sat alone till his penance was complete.
        The Lord of the Immortals came down to tell him that he had won Paradise.
        'I no longer need it,' said he.
        The God asked him what greater reward he desired.
'I want the girl who gathers twigs.'