कबिरा गर्व न कीजिये

कबिरा गर्व न कीजिये, ऊँचे देख आवास, काल परो भूंइ लेटना, ऊपर जम्सो घांस

Kabir says do not be too vain about your tall mansions;In time you will have to lie down on the bare earth and only grass will grow over you

Kabir attacks the false value of pride in worldly possessions.
Five types of afflictions 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 afflictions ,Ignorance or Avidyaa means to consider as permanent what is ephemeral, as pure what is not pure , as pleasure what is pain and as the Self what is really the not-Self .Kabir has attacked a part of this Avidyaa here as it makes us think mistakenly that our big properties are ours forever and this makes us vain about these possessions.

Kabir's teachings are married to the Upanishads.Though we find it difficullt to translate them , the 15th century people understood them clearly and easily as these were delivered to them in the language they spoke daily.Kabir brought the Upanishadic thought to the people and made them part of the folklore.

Translated by Arvind Mishra