One Hundred Poems of Kabir/LXXXI
LXXXI
III. 74. pratham ek jo apai ap
pratham ek jo apai ap, nirkar nirgun nirjaap
nahin tav aadi-ant-madh-taaraa, nahin tav andh-dhundh ujiyaaraa
nahin tav bhoomi-pavan-akaasaa, nahin tav paavak-neer-niwaasaa
nahin tav sursuti-jamunaa-gangaa, nahin tav saagar-samudra-tarangaa
nahin tav paap-punya nahin ved-puraanaa, nahi tav bhayo kateb-kuraanaa
kahyen Kabir vichaarikye, tab kuchh kirpaa nahin param-purush tahn aapheen, agam-agochar maaheen
kartaa kachhu khaavye nahin peevye, kartaa kabhun marye nahin jeevye
kartaa ke kachhu roop n rekhaa, kartaa ke kachhu baran n bhekhaa
jaake jaat-got kachhu naahin, mahimaa barani n jaay mo paahin
roop-aroop nahin teraa naavn, barn-abarn nahin tehi thaavn
IN the beginning was He alone, sufficient unto Himself: the formless, colourless, and unconditioned Being.
Then was there neither beginning, middle, nor end;
Then were no eyes, no darkness, no light;
Then were no ground, air, nor sky; no fire, water, nor earth; no rivers like the Ganges and the Jumna, no seas, oceans, and waves.
Then was neither vice nor virtue; scriptures there were not, as the Vedas and Puranas, nor as the Koran.
Kabir ponders in his mind and says: "Then was there no activity: the Supreme Being remained merged in the unknown depths of His own self."
The Guru neither eats nor drinks, neither lives nor dies:
Neither has He form, line, colour, nor vesture.
He who has neither caste nor clan nor anything else - how may I describe His glory? He has neither form nor formlessness,
He has no name,
He has neither colour nor colourlessness,
He has no dwelling-place.