[Poetry Chaikhana] Kabir - He's that rascally kind of yogi

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He's that rascally kind of yogi By Kabir (15th Century) English version by Linda Hess and Shukdeo Singh   He's that rascally kind of yogi who has no sky or earth, no hand, foot, form or shape. Where there's no market he sets up shop, weighs things and keeps the accounts. No deeds, no creeds, no yogic powers, not even a horn or gourd, so how can he go begging? "I know you and you know me and I'm inside of you." When there isn't a trace of creation or destruction, what do you meditate on? That yogi built a house brimful of Ram. He has no healing herbs, his root-of-life is Ram. He looks and looks at the juggler's tricks, the magician's sleight-of-hand -- Kabir says, saints, he's made it to the King's land.   -- from The Bijak of Kabir, Translated by Linda Hess / Translated by Shukdeo Singh Amazon.com / Photo by Joel Carillet /

============ Thought for the Day: The ego itself is the veil of Maya, both hiding and, ultimately, revealing Divine Reality. ============

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Hi Omss -

Why this poem today? I just can't help grinning at that phrase: a rascally kind of yogi. Any Friday that starts off with a rascally kind of yogi must be one of the better Fridays...

But what is "rascally" about Kabir's yogi? The first thing we are told is that he "has no sky or earth, / no hand, foot, / form or shape." In other words, he is not contained by the body or the boundaries of material existence. Something about him has slipped the physical bonds we normally identify with. He is now a being undefined and mysterious.

And he "sets up shop" outside the human social realm "where there's no market." Here he "weighs things / and keeps the accounts." Not caught up in the hubbub of the marketplace, free from the filter of consensus reality, the yogi sees clearly; he comes to know the true measure of things.

He doesn't need actions, beliefs, or the manifestation of spiritual powers. That's challenging, even for the most sincere spiritual practitioner: to no longer harbor the secret wish to impress others with your accomplishments.

And that, I think, is what makes our yogi so rascally: he isn't trying to fit into the template of how we define a spiritual adept. He is not trying to be recognized as holy or accomplished. He isn't displaying his techniques. He isn't checking off the boxes of how the world defines a yogi.

His house is full of Ram -- God -- and he is content. He doesn't do. He doesn't appear as. He is. And perhaps we recognize that he has made it to the "King's land," or perhaps we don't. Now that's one rascally kind of yogi...

Ivan


Book: Poems of Awakening ...and a poem by Ivan

A few weeks ago I received a book in the mail. People often send me their books of poetry, and I love to receive them. But this book particularly caught my eye, an anthology with the promising title of Poems of Awakening. As I leafed through it, I found a delightful collection of poems, ranging from Kabir to Li-Young Lee. I was eager to start exploring its pages, but other things required my attention, and so it sat on my desk unopened for several days.

Then I got an email from the book's editor, Betsy Small, asking if I'd received the book yet. It was only after I sent a polite email back saying that, yes, I had received the book but hadn't had a chance to read through it, that a light switched on in my memory. Betsy Small was the person who had asked me about one of my own poems several months back. I opened the book once again and read carefully through the table of contents. Sure enough, there was my haiku, "in love with the new sun":

in love with the new sun
the cherry blossom forgets
the night's frost

I had forgotten it was going to be published.

As I continue to read through Poems of Awakening, I rediscover favorite poems by other poets, and I've found more than a few that are entirely new to me. This is a book I'll keep in easy reach on my bookshelf. I recommend it to anyone who wants a nice sampling of sacred and insightful poems that includes some unexpected surprises -- including a poem by yours truly!

Poems of Awakening: An International Anthology of Spiritual Poetry Edited by Betsy Small

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One other note about "in love with the new sun"... This continues to be one of my most popular short poems. I often get emails about it from people who've discovered it on the Web. In fact, a couple years ago, I got an email from a woman in San Francisco who asked my permission to tattoo it on her side. I can't think of a more permanent form of appreciation that that!

 

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/ Photo by Fern R /

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