Kabir's Poems -5-

Maala pherat jug bhaya, mita na man ka pher, 
Kar ka manka chod de, man ka manka pher.

An era telling rosary, minds continued its sway, 
forsake the beaded rosary, arrest the mind's runaway.

(Have been telling rosary beads since an era, minds wandering did not halt, leave the beads in your hand, move the beads of your heart.)

Kabir deplores those meditates who have been reciting a mantra every time they move a bead of their chaplet while their mind has continued its wanderings. The real purpose of reciting mantra during meditation is to control the wanderings of the mind and to make it focus on the meditation itself. To those who have not been able to control their mind's runaway thoughts during meditation, Kabir prescribes that they should forget their spiritual pretense of moving chaplet beads and should instead move the beads of their heart. He asks such pretend meditates to soften their hearts and purify their actions before they attempt further meditation.

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Maala to kaar mein phire, jeebh phire mukh mahi, 
Manua to chahu dish phire, ye to simran nahi.

Beads twist in the hand, tongue twists up and down, 
mind twists everywhere, thats not meditation o'clown.

(Rosary rotates in the hand, tongue rotates inside the mouth, mind wanders in all four directions, this is no remembering.)

To those who mistake the ritual of moving chaplet beads while chanting the name of God, to be prayers and worship, Kabir exhorts for wasting their time. He describes their physical motions of churning of the beads, moving of the tongue and making loud sounds while their mind continues its world wide journey as a deplorable pretense. He asserts that these outer and physical actions are useless if they are not accompanied by an inner calming of the mind.

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