जब मैं था तब हरि नहीं

जब मैं था तब हरि नहीं, अब हरि है मैं नाहिं। सब अंधियारा मिट गया जब दीपक देख्या माहिं॥



When I was there God was'nt, now God is but I am not;all darkness disappeared when I saw Light

To consider what is ephemeral, painful, sad,impure and non-self as everlasting, pleasing,pure and the atman is the root ignorance of human beings.This ignorance leads to the identification of the drik power or all knowing or all seeing power or absolute consciousness or in other words "God" with the darshan power or cognitive power or intellect or buddhi which is also called asmita and which is one of the five afflictions of the mind that restrict the union with God.Patanjali says in chapter 2 shloka 6 ---दृक्दर्शन शक्त्योह एकात्मता एव अस्मिता
Kabir says we need to learn to separate the God from our ego.The light he mentions here is the light of distinction or the light of viveka which is also called vivekakhyati .The solution for liberation is therefore this discriminative knowledge.Patanjali says exactly this in chapter in chapter 1 shloka 26----विवेकखातिः अविप्लवा हानोपायः , which translates as "the solution for liberation is discrimnative knowledge"

Arvind Mishra

केसों कहा बिगडिया

केसों कहा बिगडिया, जे मूंडै सौ बार| मन को कहे न मूंडिये, जामे विषय विकार||

What wrong have your hair done that you shave them a hundred times;why dont you shave the mind which is lost in wordly subjects and has afflictions.

निंदक नियरे राखिये

निंदक नियरे राखिये, आँगन कुटी छवाय /बिनु साबुन पानी बिनु, निर्मल करे सुभाय


As we have discussed earlier there are five types of afflictions of the mind that come in the way of our salvation and restrict the Union with God .
These are
1 Ignorance (in the form of a misunderstanding about Reality) or Avidyaa,
2 egoism (in the form of an erroneous identification of the Self with the intellect) or asmitaa,
3 attachment or raaga,
4 aversion or dvesha and
5 fear of death (which is derived from clinging ignorantly to life) -or abhinivesha.

Out of these the first one avidya leads the way to the other four .Therefore we need to get our vision of the reality of things right .When our critic condemns us for something we cannot take it even if it is constructive criticism , because of the second affliction above called asmita.It is a rare person who can remain unmoved by strong criticism, the instinct is to immediately protect oneself and go on the defensive or offensive or run away from and avoid criticism.Criticism makes us uncomfortable as our mind is affected by above affliction.A cleansed mind will not be affected by criticism.If we learn to face criticism by focussing on removing avidya,by practise or abhyasa of tap, svadhyaya and ishwar pranidhaan, with a feeling of detachment or vairagya, we can cleanse our mind of its sva bhav referred to as sabhay in this doha by Kabir.Coming face to face with criticism will help and compel us to perform this practise as criticism will act as a touchstone to judge how clean we are.
Kabir teaches us to embrace and tackle criticism rather than run away from it and use it as a useful tool for cleansing the mind of its afflictions which come in the way of union with God

Arvind Mishra

कस्तूरी कुंडलि बसे

कस्तूरी कुंडलि बसे, मृग ढूँढे वन माहिं. ऐसे घटि -घटि राम है, दुनिया देखे नाहि



The musk is in the navel, the musk deer searches for it in the forest, So is Ram(God) present inside each one of us, the world does not see Him

In Luke 17:21 Jesus is asked when the Kingdom of God will come,
and he replies: The Kingdom of God does not come when people are looking for it, nor will they say, ‘Behold, it is here,’ or ‘there;’ for the Kingdom of God is entos humôn(inside you).”

कबीर सूता क्या करे

कबीर सूता क्या करे, कूङे काज निवार | जिस पंथ तू चलना , सोयी पंथ संवार

Kabir says why do you keep sleeping,cast away the useless pursuits ;decorate the path that you should take

Kabir teaches us to be extremely focussed on what our goal as human beings should be --to escape the travails of transmigration and yoke with God, for that is the only divine reason for which we take birth, but life is short and we need to dispel useless pursuits and focus on what is required to be done and not be diverted from the divined goal.
तदर्थ एव दृश्यस्य आत्मा --so says patanjali and which means that "all that is seen is for the purpose of the seer", i.e. all creation has no purpose of its own, it merely assists the experience(bhoga) and realization(apvarg) purposes of the seer.The seen is made of five elements(air, water, earth, fire,space)and of the senses(.भोग अपवार्गार्थम दृश्यं )
We are part of the seen and endowed with mind and its elements and so we have the capacity to offer experience and liberation benefits to the seer,by eliminating the afflictions of the mind and devoting ourselves with abject surrender and extreme feeling to God.For clarification I may add that even mind is just dead matter but due to its subtlety it is easily endowed and interspersed with the light and reflection of the seer and so it gives the impression of being alive.
Kabir warns us to be focussed on the real goal and shun useless pursuits like engaging with the senses

Arvind Mishra

कहीं दूर जब दिन ढल जाये

कबीरा तेरी झोंपडी

कबीरा तेरी झोंपडी गल कटियन के पास| जो करेंगे, सो भरेंगे, तू क्यों भयो उदास||

The law of karma operates based on our actions or karma.We need to improve the quality of our karmas and finally to eliminate the karmas in order to escape the travails of transmigration which is our only worthy goal as human beings.We need not be perturbed by what the other minds are causing or doing.Those minds will experience the results of their own karmas.

The five types of afflictions of the mind are at the root of the formation of latent impressions of karma(Karmashaya)which produce result in this life or in later lives.क्लेशमूलः कर्माशयो दृष्ट अदृष्ट जन्मवेदानियः.

Till the time these afflictions remain , the result of the accumulation of karmas are experienced by way of repeatedly being born.सति मूले तद्विपाको जाति आयुर्भोगा

Arvind Mishra

कबीर सोयी सूरमा

कबीर सोयी सूरमा, मन सूं मांदे झूझ| पंच प्यादा पारी ले, दूर करे सब दूज||

Kabir says he is the real warrior who can engage with the mind and bring it under control ; he subjugates the five soldiers and removes all dualities.

Kabir uses the imagery of the war and warriors to drive home his point.Kabir talks of the following five afflictions of the mind and the various dualities.He is the real warrior who can control his mind and its senses, attenuate the five afflictions(Kleshas) and remove all dualities.

The Yogasutra of Patanjali says that there are five afflictions of the mind that need to be attenuated to attain the yoking with God .(अविद्या अस्मिता राग द्वेष अभिनिवेष पञ्च क्लेशाः )

Yogasutra further says that there are these four kinds of dualities that lead to ignorance .This ignorance is the cause of all other afflictions of the mind.These dualities are, Considering as everlasting what is ephemeral,pure what is impure,happiness what is unhappiness and self what is the non-self (अनित्य अशुचि दुःख अनात्मसु नित्य शुचि सुख आत्मख्यातिः अविद्या )

Kabir's effort is to bring the most esoteric principles near the heart of the commonest and unread persons by using common language and imagery.It is due to such great poets that the common man in India understands and talks about so much of our Indian philosophy.Such Gurus or teachers show us how the toughest lessons can be made to look so simple and worth embracing by one and all

Arvind Mishra

Faces by Kartik Singh

The worlds been hard on you,
Scraping at your very core,
Your tears as infinite as the morning dew ,
Soon you are no more.

Cover yourself in a facade built of many lies,
With every mask that covers you,
Your tender root withers and cries,
For it no longer sees the sun to which you closed your eyes.

When a two faced angel come to guide you down the two-pronged path,
To take both good and bad to task,
Peel away all your many faces,
But there is nothing behind the mask.

चेतक की वीरता

रणबीच चौकड़ी भर-भर कर
चेतक बन गया निराला था
राणाप्रताप के घोड़े से
पड़ गया हवा का पाला था

जो तनिक हवा से बाग हिली
लेकर सवार उड जाता था
राणा की पुतली फिरी नहीं
तब तक चेतक मुड जाता था

गिरता न कभी चेतक तन पर
राणाप्रताप का कोड़ा था
वह दौड़ रहा अरिमस्तक पर
वह आसमान का घोड़ा था

था यहीं रहा अब यहाँ नहीं
वह वहीं रहा था यहाँ नहीं
थी जगह न कोई जहाँ नहीं
किस अरि मस्तक पर कहाँ नहीं

निर्भीक गया वह ढालों में
सरपट दौडा करबालों में
फँस गया शत्रु की चालों में

बढते नद सा वह लहर गया
फिर गया गया फिर ठहर गया
बिकराल बज्रमय बादल सा
अरि की सेना पर घहर गया।

भाला गिर गया गिरा निशंग
हय टापों से खन गया अंग
बैरी समाज रह गया दंग
घोड़े का ऐसा देख रंग।

रचनाकार: श्यामनारायण पाण्डेय

झांसी की रानी

सिंहासन हिल उठे राजवंशों ने भृकुटी तानी थी,
बूढ़े भारत में भी आई फिर से नयी जवानी थी,
गुमी हुई आज़ादी की कीमत सबने पहचानी थी,
दूर फिरंगी को करने की सबने मन में ठानी थी।
चमक उठी सन सत्तावन में, वह तलवार पुरानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
कानपूर के नाना की, मुँहबोली बहन छबीली थी,
लक्ष्मीबाई नाम, पिता की वह संतान अकेली थी,
नाना के सँग पढ़ती थी वह, नाना के सँग खेली थी,
बरछी, ढाल, कृपाण, कटारी उसकी यही सहेली थी।
वीर शिवाजी की गाथायें उसको याद ज़बानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
लक्ष्मी थी या दुर्गा थी वह स्वयं वीरता की अवतार,
देख मराठे पुलकित होते उसकी तलवारों के वार,
नकली युद्ध-व्यूह की रचना और खेलना खूब शिकार,
सैन्य घेरना, दुर्ग तोड़ना ये थे उसके प्रिय खिलवाड़|
महाराष्ट्र-कुल-देवी उसकी भी आराध्य भवानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
हुई वीरता की वैभव के साथ सगाई झाँसी में,
ब्याह हुआ रानी बन आई लक्ष्मीबाई झाँसी में,
राजमहल में बजी बधाई खुशियाँ छाई झाँसी में,
सुघट बुंदेलों की विरुदावलि-सी वह आयी थी झांसी में,
चित्रा ने अर्जुन को पाया, शिव को मिली भवानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
उदित हुआ सौभाग्य, मुदित महलों में उजियाली छाई,
किंतु कालगति चुपके-चुपके काली घटा घेर लाई,
तीर चलाने वाले कर में उसे चूड़ियाँ कब भाई,
रानी विधवा हुई, हाय! विधि को भी नहीं दया आई।
निसंतान मरे राजाजी रानी शोक-समानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
बुझा दीप झाँसी का तब डलहौज़ी मन में हरषाया,
राज्य हड़प करने का उसने यह अच्छा अवसर पाया,
फ़ौरन फौजें भेज दुर्ग पर अपना झंडा फहराया,
लावारिस का वारिस बनकर ब्रिटिश राज्य झाँसी आया।
अश्रुपूर्ण रानी ने देखा झाँसी हुई बिरानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
अनुनय विनय नहीं सुनती है, विकट शासकों की माया,
व्यापारी बन दया चाहता था जब यह भारत आया,
डलहौज़ी ने पैर पसारे, अब तो पलट गई काया,
राजाओं नव्वाबों को भी उसने पैरों ठुकराया।
रानी दासी बनी, बनी यह दासी अब महरानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
छिनी राजधानी दिल्ली की, लखनऊ छीना बातों-बात,
कैद पेशवा था बिठूर में, हुआ नागपुर का भी घात,
उदैपुर, तंजौर, सतारा,कर्नाटक की कौन बिसात?
जब कि सिंध, पंजाब ब्रह्म पर अभी हुआ था वज्र-निपात।
बंगाले, मद्रास आदि की भी तो वही कहानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
रानी रोयीं रनिवासों में, बेगम ग़म से थीं बेज़ार,
उनके गहने कपड़े बिकते थे कलकत्ते के बाज़ार,
सरे आम नीलाम छापते थे अंग्रेज़ों के अखबार,
'नागपुर के ज़ेवर ले लो लखनऊ के लो नौलख हार'।
यों परदे की इज़्ज़त परदेशी के हाथ बिकानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
कुटियों में भी विषम वेदना, महलों में आहत अपमान,
वीर सैनिकों के मन में था अपने पुरखों का अभिमान,
नाना धुंधूपंत पेशवा जुटा रहा था सब सामान,
बहिन छबीली ने रण-चण्डी का कर दिया प्रकट आहवान।
हुआ यज्ञ प्रारम्भ उन्हें तो सोई ज्योति जगानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
महलों ने दी आग, झोंपड़ी ने ज्वाला सुलगाई थी,
यह स्वतंत्रता की चिनगारी अंतरतम से आई थी,
झाँसी चेती, दिल्ली चेती, लखनऊ लपटें छाई थी,
मेरठ, कानपुर,पटना ने भारी धूम मचाई थी,
जबलपुर, कोल्हापुर में भी कुछ हलचल उकसानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
इस स्वतंत्रता महायज्ञ में कई वीरवर आए काम,
नाना धुंधूपंत, ताँतिया, चतुर अज़ीमुल्ला सरनाम,
अहमदशाह मौलवी, ठाकुर कुँवरसिंह सैनिक अभिराम,
भारत के इतिहास गगन में अमर रहेंगे जिनके नाम।
लेकिन आज जुर्म कहलाती उनकी जो कुरबानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
इनकी गाथा छोड़, चले हम झाँसी के मैदानों में,
जहाँ खड़ी है लक्ष्मीबाई मर्द बनी मर्दानों में,
लेफ्टिनेंट वाकर आ पहुँचा, आगे बढ़ा जवानों में,
रानी ने तलवार खींच ली, हुया द्वंद असमानों में।
ज़ख्मी होकर वाकर भागा, उसे अजब हैरानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
रानी बढ़ी कालपी आई, कर सौ मील निरंतर पार,
घोड़ा थक कर गिरा भूमि पर गया स्वर्ग तत्काल सिधार,
यमुना तट पर अंग्रेज़ों ने फिर खाई रानी से हार,
विजयी रानी आगे चल दी, किया ग्वालियर पर अधिकार।
अंग्रेज़ों के मित्र सिंधिया ने छोड़ी राजधानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
विजय मिली, पर अंग्रेज़ों की फिर सेना घिर आई थी,
अबके जनरल स्मिथ सम्मुख था, उसने मुहँ की खाई थी,
काना और मंदरा सखियाँ रानी के संग आई थी,
युद्ध श्रेत्र में उन दोनों ने भारी मार मचाई थी।
पर पीछे ह्यूरोज़ आ गया, हाय! घिरी अब रानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
तो भी रानी मार काट कर चलती बनी सैन्य के पार,
किन्तु सामने नाला आया, था वह संकट विषम अपार,
घोड़ा अड़ा, नया घोड़ा था, इतने में आ गये सवार,
रानी एक, शत्रु बहुतेरे, होने लगे वार-पर-वार।
घायल होकर गिरी सिंहनी उसे वीर गति पानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
रानी गई सिधार चिता अब उसकी दिव्य सवारी थी,
मिला तेज से तेज, तेज की वह सच्ची अधिकारी थी,
अभी उम्र कुल तेइस की थी, मनुज नहीं अवतारी थी,
हमको जीवित करने आयी बन स्वतंत्रता-नारी थी,
दिखा गई पथ, सिखा गई हमको जो सीख सिखानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
जाओ रानी याद रखेंगे ये कृतज्ञ भारतवासी,
यह तेरा बलिदान जगावेगा स्वतंत्रता अविनासी,
होवे चुप इतिहास, लगे सच्चाई को चाहे फाँसी,
हो मदमाती विजय, मिटा दे गोलों से चाहे झाँसी।
तेरा स्मारक तू ही होगी, तू खुद अमिट निशानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।

रचनाकार: सुभद्राकुमारी चौहान

मूंड मुंडआवत दिन गए

मूंड मुंडआवत दिन गए, अजहूँ न मिलिया राम| राम नाम कहू क्या करे, जब मन के औरे काम||

Arvind Mishra Many days passed after shaving the head ,yet have not found God so far;What is the use of repeating Ram's name when the mind is busy elsewhere

It is not merely the prayer to God which is important for gaining salvation but also the focussing of the mind on God with deep devotion.Mere repetition of God's name and God's prayer will not help at all and will prove fruitless for liberation.The mind needs to be cleared of all impurities(Klesha) and extraneous thoughts(chitta vritti) and surrendered to God with extreme faith and devotion (Shraddha and Bhakti).

It has been stated in the Bhagwatgeeta chapter 12 verse 2, मय्यावेश्य मनो ये माम नित्ययुक्ता उपासते श्रद्धया परयोपेतास्ते में युक्ततमा मताः which translates as "Those who fix their mind in me and pray to me with continuous involvement and are endowed with firm faith of a special kind, they are considered by Me as perfect in the art of Yoking with Me

लाली मेरे लाल की

लाली मेरे लाल की, जित देखूं तित लाल| लाली देखन मैं गयी, मैं भी गयी लाल|

"Red was my child all over;I went to examine red and became red myself

The red color here denotes the devotion and passion for God.The imagery used is that of the dyeing of cloth by a weaver of cloth which was the profession of Kabir through the parents who brought him up.The thoughts depicted are that of a woman.This doha inspires women to feel the extreme devotion , passion and love for God which is the best way for their salvation or liberation.It uses the symbolism of the mother and child love which is pure and natural and easy to identify with for a woman.It says that a woman saw that her child was red all over his body, wherever she looked the child was all red so out of extreme curiosity and concern and devotion to the child she went over to examine why is it so that the child is red and soon she finds she herself is immersed in the red color.This immersion of the woman in red is nothing but her liberation from the cycle of birth and death and her immersion in God.If we completely focus on God with utmost devotion , love , passion and concern for our liberation it is the best way to make it happen.

The Bhagwatgeeta says that
ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि संन्यस्य मत्पराः अनन्येनैव योगेन माम ध्यायन्त उपासते तेषाम अहम् समुद्धर्ता म्रित्युसंसारासागारात भवामि न चिरात पार्थ माय्यावेशित्चेत्साम which translates as "Those who having dedicated all their works to me and with practice of bhaktiyoga pray to me incessantly and with focus, I very soon remove them from the cycle of birth and death""

साधू गाँठ न बाँधई

साधू गाँठ न बाँधई उदर समाता लेय। आगे पाछे हरी खड़े जब माँगे तब देय॥

Arvind Mishra
Take as much as your stomach can take, do not hoard;God is everywhere and gives when you ask for

Kabir stresses "Aparigraha" or non-possessiveness here.
According to Yogasutra of Patanjali, When we practice the eight limbs of yoga, the light of knowledge arises leading to discriminative or distinguishing knowledge of seer and the seen. (योगान्गानुष्ठानात अशुद्धिक्षये ग्यानदीप्तिः अविवेकख्यातिः )This knowledge destroys the ignorance or avidyaa leading to liberation.

These limbs of yoga are yama , niyama, asana ,pranayaam, pratyaahaar, dhaarana , dhyaan , samadhi (यमिनयमासन प्राणायाम प्रत्याहार धारणा ध्यान समाधयोह अष्टौ अन्गानि )

Out of the eight limbs, yama or restraints are defined as non-violence, truth, non-stealing, non-possessiveness or non-covetousness ( अहिंसा सत्य अस्तेयम ब्रह्मचर्य अपरिग्रह यमः )

Here Kabir stresses the importance of the fifth yama or practising "aparigrah" or not being possession oriented or covetous or avaricious and also the importance of devotion to God.We store things because of greed and fear of future which in turn are the result of ignorance of the nature of reality.

The physical body does not last long.It is born and after sometime it dies.The world system functions in such a way that the requirements of the physical body are all met easily and without much discomfort.The mana along with its constituents moves from body to body and does not need any food.The physical body being perishable will not benefit from more than what is required to fill the stomach .We hoard out of fear that we may not have enough later and greed due to attraction towards what we think we need.Ignorance of the nature of reality and the confusion of considering the mind as yourself or the ultimate reality, along with other afflictions or Kleshas like raag , dwesha and abhinivesha, leads to the arising of hope or desire , fear , greed ,attachment,anger.
So you hoard more than your body requires and have desire for worldly things that are of no use in the Universe's scheme of things.The only thing that needs to be hoarded is good karmas which will help you to escape the cycle of birth and death.God helps us try and achieve this liberation but only when we ask for it by surrendering to God and praying for liberation with deep devotion.(Ishwar pranidhanaatva

बुरा जो देखन मै चला

बुरा जो देखन मै चला, बुरा ना मिल्या कोय, जो मन खोजा आपना मुझसे बुरा ना कोय

"When I went out to find sin, I did not find anyone evil;when I searched my mind, none was worse than me

Comment : Kabir says all evil thoughts and actions reside in the mana or the mind substance or the subtle body.Inside the physical body there exists one subtle body which has two main parts man and ahankar. The subtle body has in all 17 parts mind , intellect(Buddhi), five knowledge senses(touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing ) , five karma senses(hands, legs, speech, excretory and reproductive organs) ,and five praan .This subtle body is also plain material just like the physical body but this subtle body has the capacity of absorbing the reflection of the supreme consciousness .Thats why it seems to be alive.This subtle body is also called ling body.The word ling means sign, the sign by which some object is recognized.This subtle body has three states, sleep , dream and wakefulness corresponding to our states as human beings just as when we are sleeping, dreaming or are awake depending upon the state of the subtle body.When we die this subtle body leaves the physical body and that is called death.When it enters a new physical body it is called birth.The subtle body does'nt die.The physical body does.

It has been stated by adi sankaracharya

मनो अहम्क्रित्य उपादानं लिंगमेकम जडात्मक
अवस्थात्रय मन इति, जायते म्रियते तथा
which translates as "There is a body of material form constituted of mana and ahamkaar which attains to three states , this subtle body causes birth and death.

As we do karma, five types of modifications are formed on the mind mirror which settle there like dust.These modifications are caused by the five types of afflictions of the mind(ignorance etc) which result in formation and accumulation of latent impressions of karma(क्लेष मूलः कर्म विपाकः)These afflictions stick with the subtle body and move from birth to birth along with the subtle body( दृष्ट अदृष्ट जन्म वेदनीय )These afflictions is the real evil that needs to be purged to help the supreme consciousness or the seer to rest back in its own original and real non-illusory state.There is no evil outside or otherwise and all evil resides in the mind substance or the subtle body.There is no need to look at the evil in other persons as that would not help your own liberation and therefore is wholly irrelevant, only the purging of the evil or afflictions within your mind would help it.Self Liberation is the only ultimate goal of man."

माया मरी न मन मरा

माया मरी न मन मरा, मर-मर गए शरीर । आशा तृष्णा न मरी, कह गए दास कबीर ॥

Arvind Mishra Illusion never died nor did the mind,only the body did;Hope and Desire never died so said Kabir

Explanation:-----What the mind perceives through the gross and subtle senses is all Illusion.Illusion is the world perceived through the senses and thoughts imagined by the mind.This Illusion which is "seen" is always there."Seen" is there for two purposes namely experience(bhoga) and liberation( moksha)(भोग अपवर्गार्थम दृश्यं). The "Seer" or Absolute Consciousness or God is merely the witness and is itself pure and devoid of characteristics(Guna) and is the beholder of the "seen"-----(द्रष्टा दृशिमात्रः शुद्धः अपि प्रत्यय अनुपश्यः).All that is seen is Illusion.The "seen" is there for the above mentioned purposes of the seer i.e. Bhoga and Moksha.(तदर्थ एव दृश्यस्यात्मा).

Why does Kabir say that Maya or Illusion never dies.The reason is what has been propounded in the Upanishads that Illusion or Seen always remains . Though for a person who has been liberated , the Illusion is destroyed due to complete lack of bhoga or experience of the world due to the complete suppression of the mental modifications on the mind plate, however Illusion continues to exists as something for the experience(bhoga) of the other persons who have not so far been liberated.(कृतार्थं प्रति नष्टं अपि अनश्टम तदन्य साधारणत्वात)

The experience of the Illusion or the seen by the mind leads to memories of that experience which leads to rise of afflictions which are of five types(Ignorance,Egoism,Attachment, Aversion, Clinging to Life) .Ignorance(Avidya) of the nature of reality is the principal affliction which is the breeding ground for other four types of afflictions. These afflictions cause Hope and Desire for the "seen" to arise.Since the Illusion always remains therefore natural corollary is that just like Illusion , Hope and Desire also always remain. This Illusion continuously causes Hope and desire to arise.The prevalence of Hope and Desire related to the subjects(vishaya) of Illusion leads to the Travails of Transmigration

Dirge by Kartik Singh

Upon the abyss which once sheltered the reapings of mans determination.
Scars etched into the behemoth ruins - reaching ever so longingly.Out of damnation.
For the pride that imprisons our hearts and fuels our delusions,
The same that disfigures and reforms faces in the mirror.
Cracks appear and soon all that is left are the shards sparkling like a quiet river.

Wild doves cry out,their hearts filled with anguish
Through the cold and bitter landscape their cries languish,
Rebounding upon walls which once held men within their halls,
Resounding through the air desperate to be heard,
The cry of a lonely bird.

Tears drop from a raging sky , so beautiful in its anger
Tears drop ,no eyes to bleed them and form rivers that meander
Color,so vibrant,flourishes everywhere but no more can we stare
Beauty lost forever as nature grows ever vibrant, ever restless,
And blooms for none but the eyeless.

The darks skies set ablaze by the fire that burns below,
Light and Darkness continue their eternal row,
The fight can no longer be won, for the armies of light and dark number none.
In the focus of this never-ending furore Fear rears his ugly head and lets out a grevious moan,
For in a world without man Fear is all alone.

Kartik Singh