Verses
O seekers, this is a village of the dead.
Verse 1
Holy elders die and prophets die; yogis who are alive will die. Kings die and subjects die; the physician and the sick die.
Verse 2
The moon will die and the sun will die; earth and sky will die. The lords of the fourteen worlds will die; what hope can there be in them?
Verse 3
The nine will die and the ten will die; the eighty-eight will die as well. The thirty-three crore gods will die; great is the game of Time.
Verse 4
The Infinite, named and nameless, remains; there is no second reality. Kabir says: listen, dear seekers, let no one die wandering astray.
Verse 5
Background
The 'village of the dead' is the world, where everything that appears must pass. The pad moves outward in widening circles: the holy and the ordinary, ruler and subject, physician and patient, then moon, sun, earth and sky, the lords of the fourteen worlds, and the thirty-three crore gods. Only after this long list does it turn to what stays: the Infinite, named and nameless, with no second reality beside it. The closing appeal is gentle: let no one die wandering astray. The text is from the Kavita Kosh page for this pad, which names no manuscript, book or collection. Because nirgun pads live in singing, other singers' words may differ.
Did You Know?
Author
Attributed to Kabir (traditionally dated c. 1440–1518); the closing lines carry his signature, 'Kahat Kabir'.
Widening circles
The pad names holy persons, rulers and subjects, physician and patient, then the moon, sun, earth and sky, the lords of the fourteen worlds and thirty-three crore gods, and says each will pass.
What remains
The Infinite, both named and nameless, is said to remain, with no second reality beside it.
About this text
Kavita Kosh gives no manuscript or collection. Its page prints every line separately, so the grouping into verses here is this site's, made by sense.
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