Join us for for talks discussing The Relevance of Kabir with the Author Todd Vickers. The talks focus on meditation and questioning our beliefs. Keep an eye on this page for upcoming details on upcoming talks. To find out more about the author, read his latest piece called Americans Need Indian Genius. Check out the Vivriti Blog for a taste of the this author on diverse subjects and view the short videos at the YouTube channel.
Tag: kabir
Kabir honers the person who goes into the house of eye-shadow, if they can also leave. If we cannot get out, we will drown. We all go in but we don’t all come out. Quieting the mind (meditation) is a way out.
“[Kabir’s]… advice is to move both in and out of the illusions we create. Our thoughts offer more temptations than the most ornate bordello. If we fear to go into the mind, then we become ineffective to others and ourselves. We must remember that the fire that warms the hearth on a cold night can burn down the house and even the neighborhood.”
Excerpt: The Relevance of Kabir
The mind is a marvelous tool shed. Do not let it become a prison. The mind exists to serve life, not the other way around.
“…Kabir says: “listen to me, brother!
The nest of fear is broken.
Not for a moment have you come face
To face with the world:
You are weaving your bondage of
falsehood, your words are full of
deception:
With a load of desires which you hold
on your head, how can you be
light?
Kabir says: “keep within you truth,
detachment, and love.”
Thanks to Wikimedia Commons for the image
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Excerpt from The Relevance of Kabir
“Belief, right or wrong, affects our behaviours.
For example, my father returned late from work after being gone for several days. It was hot despite being quite late. My mother slept why my father disrobed and prepared for bed. He thought to open the sliding glass door opposite the bed to let in some air. As he slid the door open, he heard the faintest noise, in spite of the fact that he was hard of hearing. Being familiar with the sound of a hammer being pulled back on a 357 magnum, he said, “Honey, it’s me.” Then, my mother, who had been silent until this point, and had almost shot her husband, commenced to give him a piece of her mind in a rant that he did not contest. Take my word for it, my father was as close to dying as one can be and still live. You see, my mom mistook him for an intruder, and a naked one at that. All she saw was the silhouette of a naked man. What we believe matters a lot, especially when it is wrong.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have access to facts that controvert flawed beliefs. Still, when events threaten our viewpoints, we may excuse contrary facts as an exception to the rule and the beliefs stand as strong as before. The more serious the disillusionment, the more difficult it becomes to explain away contradictions. When events of our lives surpass our capacities to rationalize, then our confidence will shatter, particularly regarding beliefs about ourselves. Kabir’s poems take the place of disillusioning events to quicken our understanding about life. When we let go of prejudices, we gain access to alternative ways of responding.”
There is nothing but water at the
holy bathing places; and I know
that they are useless, for I have
bathed in them.
The images [gods] are all lifeless, they cannot
speak; I know, for I have cried
aloud to them.
The Purana and the Koran are mere
words; lifting up the curtain, I
have seen.
Kabîr gives utterance to the words of
experience; and he knows very
well that all other things are un-true.
Kabir,
Translated by Rabindranath Tagore
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Todd Vickers
