Kabira

Jab mein tha tab Hari Nahin, Abh Hari hai to mein nahin
Sab andhiyara mit gaya, Jab Deepak dekhiya mahin


I heard this couplet for the 1st time in a Sufi concert.. apt I thought because Kabir Das was as Sufi as someone could get.. Having admired his work since school, I was deeply touched by what I heard..

As I sat in Delhi’s Humayun tomb in a night illuminated sparsely by stars, candles, melody and a solitary moon and tears flowing unchecked and without an ounce of self consciousness, I let the resonant voice of Abida Parveen fill my soul and senses with yet a more deeper and selfless love for that higher power..

I realized that the illumination around me was not the stars or an external light source but the illumination of Him. The darkness of my ego, selfishness, ignorance was slowly diminishing with a striking beam of light. The “I” factor was slowly immersing itself and dissolving in His love..

The world that I live in, with my desires and expectations that I have from myself and my existence stirs me away from that light.. I realise that I can't entirely stop being selfish or that I am the possessor of a detrimental ego or that the pursuit of worldly pleasures does still dictate my actions.. Maybe with the natural course that life follows things will change.. but still when the world seems very dark and I don’t which direction to turn in, I remember that sacred moment when I realized His physical presence stir inside me, where my heart is… and the feeling of eternal peace sweeps over me even if it is for just a few precious moments..

With that thought, I indulge myself today in the hope that as time passes, I will transcend from – I am there and God is not, to, God is there and I am not..