Explanations of Sri Kabir ji shabad

[tSingh]

I've found this topic interesting on another forum. Below is the original shabad:

This Shabad is by Bhagat Kabeer Ji in Raag Aasaa on Pannaa 477

Aasaa:

feel rabaabee baladh pakhaavaj kooaa thaal bajaavai ||

The elephant is the guitar player, the ox is the drummer, and the crow plays the cymbals.

pehir cholanaa gadhehaa naachai bhaisaa bhagath karaavai ||1||

Putting on the skirt, the donkey dances around, and the water buffalo performs devotional worship. ||1||

raajaa raam kakareeaa barae pakaaeae ||

The Lord, the King, has cooked the cakes of ice,

kinai boojhanehaarai khaaeae ||1|| rehaao ||

but only the rare man of understanding eats them. ||1||Pause||

bait(h) si(n)gh ghar paan lagaavai ghees galourae liaavai ||

Sitting in his den, the lion prepares the betel leaves, and the muskrat brings the betel nuts.

ghar ghar musaree ma(n)gal gaavehi kashhooaa sa(n)kh bajaavai ||2||

Going from house to house, the mouse sings the songs of joy, and the turtle blows on the conch-shell. ||2||

ba(n)s ko pooth beeaahan chaliaa sueinae ma(n)ddap shhaaeae ||

The son of the sterile woman goes to get married, and the golden canopy is spread out for him.

roop ka(n)niaa su(n)dhar baedhhee sasai si(n)gh gun gaaeae ||3||

He marries a beautiful and enticing young woman; the rabbit and the lion sing their praises. ||3||

kehath kabeer sunahu rae sa(n)thahu keettee parabath khaaeiaa ||

Says Kabeer, listen, O Saints - the ant has eaten the mountain.

kashhooaa kehai a(n)gaar bh loro lookee sabadh sunaaeiaa ||4||6||

The turtle says, ""I need a burning coal, also."" Listen to this mystery of the Shabad. ||4||6||

Below I have posted Kulbir Singh's explanation and my own. I would like to invite other forum members to provide possible explanations of this most intriguing shabad.

Kulbir Singh wrote:

In my humble opinion, the mystery of this shabad opens up in the following pankiti:

Kehat Kabir, suno re Santo, Keeti parbat khaaiya||

(Bhagat jee says, addressing to the saints, that an ant has eaten up a mountain)

It is very hard if not impossible for an ant to eat a mountain. Bhagat Kabir jee is using this metaphor to describe how prodigious it was for an ordinary person like him to have attained Vaheguru.

To explain the impossibility or hardness of what he had attained he gives a number of examples. He says that that his mann (mind) that was like lazy like an elephant, ox and evil like a crow; and stupid and dirty like a donkey has changed so much. His elephant like mann is now playing the Rabaab (a string musical instrument), oxen like mann is playing drum and his crow like greedy mann has given up old habits and is now playing taal. His donkey like mann that was utterly stupid and unskilful is now absorbed in the mystical dance i.e. is absorbed in naam and his clueless buffalo like mann is doing devotional worship.

His Mann that was sour as akk (a very sour plant in India) has now become sweeter than a mango (barae pakaaye). Only the fortunate ones can reach this stage. (Rahao).

His lion like mann that was not getting tamed in any way and was running around wild has now become so obedient and nice that it is serving me food at home and always stays at my service. His tortoise like mann that used to flee from Satsangat now loves to stay in Satsangat. (2)

His mann that used to be son of maaiya (bans ko poot) has now shed maaiya and has got married to gurmukhi nature i.e has adopted good gurmukhi temperament. (3).

In the end Kabir jee wraps up the shabad saying that his mann has achieved the impossible i.e. Vaheguru. Keeti parbat khaaiya. Now his tortoise like mann wants angaar (warmness of Naam) as opposed to being shy from others and staying away from sangat and in water.

It is hard to translate this shabad in English. I apologise for numerous mistakes I have made in attempting to translate the Mahaavaak of Mahapurakh Bhagat Siri Kabir jee.

Daas,

Kulbir Singh

And then:

Although I agree with some of your explanation Kulbir ji, I feel you have missed some essential aspects.

I find the much of the meaning of ths shabad is in the pankti 'the turtle needs a burning coal'.

This is an important shabad. Kabir ji is using it as a vehicle to teach three things;

a) depict the state of the mystic,

the requirement of the path and

c) the final union.

The path and required state of the mystic are depicted through impossible metaphors. It is to demonstrate that the path which leads to the state requires one to transcend reality, to experience the impossible becoming possible.

To begin with, there is a sema (a sufi meditative technique accompanied by music). By putting on the sufi's cloak (of unattachedness) the lowly and foolish begin to whirl attaining spiritually and wisdom. Aatmdev has 'cooked' cakes of ice, in otherwords Ram offers the fruit or reward. This fruit is not something of this world, and is at once paradoxical. Consequently, the individual must turn themselves inside out, upside down, become a wise fool (like the whirling donkey) to eat these cakes of ice.

Then comes the son of a sterile woman, another seeming contradiction. Who is the sterile woman and who the son? The son to my mind is the mystic or sant, born of one who cannot give birth, nirgun nirankar. Such an individual instinctively desires union. The marriage is to a beautiful and enticing woman - the union of truth and bliss or anand (satchitanand).

Finally again the turtle, a water born creature, speaks a desire for burning coals, another physical impossibility. The mystic desires the fruit.

I look forward to other interpretations.