Sky turns dark, clouds pour
Avadhoota gagan ghata
A Sant Kabir song with a rich commentary
The original lyrics go thus,
अवधूता गगन घटा गहरानी रे
पश्चिम दिशा से उलटी बादल, रुम झूम बरसे मेहा
उठो ग्यानी खेत संभारो, बिगै निसरेगा पानी ||१||
निरत सुरत के बेल बनावो, बीजा बोवो निज धानी
दुबध्या धूप जमन नहि पावे, बोवो नामकी धानी ||२||
चारो कोने चार रखवाले, चुग ना जावे मृग धानी
काट्या खेत भींडा घरल्यावे, जाकी पुरान किसानी ||३||
पाच सखी मिल करे रसोई, जिहमे मुनी और ग्यानी
कहे कबीर सुनो भाई साधो, बोवो नामकी धानी ||४||
"Oh Avadhoota! The sky has turned pitch dark. The night is approaching."
Avadhoota is the wise one, he/she who has embarked on the spiritual journey and advanced a lot on the path. Kabir is sounding an alarm of caution. The premonition is that bad times are yet to come and life's trials and tribulations, true raw pain and suffering, are yet to hit you hard. "Alas, look thitherward! They have almost come. Beware!" The sky turning dark is a very significant metaphor for duh+kha (literally - bad sky! ) It could also mean there is a sense of gloomy hopelessness that is soon going to set in.
"From the west, return thunderstorm clouds, drops of rain have begun to pour"
West is the direction of decay and South is the direction of death. Southwestern monsoons are prevalent in India, which bring hailstorms and cause havoc annually.
This is a metaphor for the frequent tears and fears which occupy the mind, born out of the helplessness and uncertainty of the path. Only those advanced (Avadhoota) are sensitive enough to feel the helplessness of not finding any real milestones despite their determined efforts to keep walking along. They walk alone hence tread the least trodden path and are their own guides and route map. This puts an enormous burden of uncertainty on them.
"Wake up Jnani! Tend to your fields. Otherwise the rain floods will wash it away all clean!"
Kabir is arousing the wisdom within the Avadhoota. He is , almost hurriedly, instructing him to look at his well nurtured field, verily his sweat and toil. The field here is the field of the mind. And the crops are the fruition of good sadhana, the well cultivated thoughts, intelligence, compassion, maturity, powers and experience.
Extreme desperation and depression could truly undo all the efforts and fruits of hard labour thereby wiping them clean.
"Grow creepers of void focus"
Kabir is instructing to take quick refuge into objectless absorption (samadhi - void focus) as a means to bind the spiritual crops to the ground. Here creeper could mean the Nadi-s. To ground the crops, creepers are grown. Going into quietude within from time to time, helps ground the understanding.
Why void? An absorption without an object is the void. To focus one needs an object. But Kabir is perplexingly and purposefully using paradoxical language to hint at such an absorption which is the emptying of the mind of all objects.
"Sow the seeds of yourself"
In such a state of void, he is advising to plant seeds of authenticity in the mind.
It could also mean the seeds of the self- the subject. Psychologically too, only when the true self(the shadow and ego) is allowed expression does one become happy in the long run. Trying to repress anything will not be beneficial. All aspects, good or bad, polite or rude, lust or greed, love or contempt, must come out in one final purging. Those inhibitions must be necessarily removed for the state of madness to set in.
"Beware of weeds of doubts growing rampant"
Self doubt is common in those who are sensitive, especially if spiritual too. Philosophy is all about looking at everything very attentively, barring no one or no authority, not even oneself. It is essential to analyse our own biases and own conduct. A healthy amount of introspection is beneficial. But sometimes we go on long journeys of self doubt and overthinking, thus weakening the fertile mind, and as parasites consumes the mental energy.
How do we overcome this?
"Sow the seeds of the Name"
Repetition of God's name. Essentially devotedly submitting to the chosen deity, and hence just leaving all up to him. Once love smitten, anyone will naturally keep thinking of her beloved, imagining the future with him, recollecting her sweet and bitter experiences with him. She then has no time or space for other thoughts, her family, her job , her friends or her health. Similarly, Kabir suggests the forceful repetition of deity's name( or mantra and visualise the form) in hopes of being love struck soon, and as means to avoid overthinking.
"Keep your guards up with scouts in four directions. Do not let the deer munch away the crops"
The deer here is the trap of wealth, beauty and fame. (Alludes to the incident of Seeta being attracted to the golden deer in Ramayana.) Sometimes, an Irresistible urge for accumulating, reproducing or acknowledging takes over us. These are "animal" instincts. If given into these, one loses much of the hard earned maturity and strength and falls back to square one.To keep them away, he commands keeping scouts in all directions. Keep a close watch out for these urges that can originate from any trigger. Scout is symbol of discipline. 'Shun those triggers away with confidence and masculine detachment.'
"The entire endeavour of farming is not complete until the harvest is brought back home."
The spiritual journey is not to be assumed complete until the fruits of labor are taken home, i.e. back to our original state. Hence, regardless of absence of milestones, keep walking and progressing until we regain our 'originally' lost-and-found state(of godhood?) Do not let our guards drop till then and keep striving!
"The five friends, come together and con you. Worry not for not even the wisest sages and saints were spared from their frauds."
Five friends could be thought of as the five elements or five senses. The elements come together to make this illusion of a real solid obvious world and entice you deep into its hollow crevices. 'Fret not for you are not the only or first one to be duped.' They have played tricks on even some of the greatest and wisest of sages and seekers. Be assured also that they were able to see through it finally. But how!?
"Kabira speaks now, please listen intently, O Sadhu! Sow seeds of the Name. "
Kabira, address the listener as Sadhu, the good one! For he too knows the 'bad' ones do not listen to him anyway. Though Kabira pours out the song of advice for the world, only those with good ears hear him, and of those, only a few truly listen.
Soon after drawing our attention he drops his final bomb frantically commanding us to just keep taking God's name.
But why does he repeat the same advice? For emphasis, possibly.
But he is also known for his nirguni tones. Naama could also mean the word of God- Om - the primordial vibration. Repeated recital and contemplation on Om is advised to even the highest sannyasins, as a means to declutter and disillusion the apparent reality of wake, dreams and sleep. He ends this with a powerful punch, a well renowned simple yet profound method to escape the five friends' swindle.
Kannada translation
ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ
ದಿಕ್ಕಿನಿಂದ ಕಾರ್
ಮೋಡಗಳು ಬರುತ್ತಿವೆ.
ಮತ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತೆ
ಹಿಂತಿರುಗುತ್ತಿವೆ. ಗಟ್ಟಿಯಾಗಿರು.
ರಾತ್ರಿಯಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಎಚ್ಚರ.
ಗಗನ ವೆಲ್ಲ ಕಪ್ಪಾಗಿದೆ.
ನಿನ್ನ
ಬೆಳೆ ಗಳನ್ನು
ನೋಡಿಕೋ! ನೀನು
ಮಾಡಿರುವ ಪರಿಶ್ರಮ
ಕೃಷಿ ಎಲ್ಲಾ
ಆ ಕಣ್ಣೀರು
ಎಂಬ ಮಳೆ
ಪ್ರವಾಹದಿಂದ ಕೊಚ್ಚಿ
ಹೋಗದಿರಲಿ
ಏಳು.ಎದ್ದೇಳು. ಕಾಪಾಡಿಕೋ.
ಕೇಳು, ಎಲೈ ಸಾಧು ಮಾನವನೇ
ನಿನ್ನ ಸ್ವಂತ ತನ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಕೊಡಬೇಡ. ನಿನ್ನ ಆತ್ಮ ಬಲ ದ ಬೆಳೆ ಯನ್ನು ನೆಡು.
(ಭಗವಂತನ ) ನಾಮದ ಬೀಜಗಳನ್ನು ನೆಡು
ನಿನ್ನ ಅಧ್ಯತ್ಮ ಕೃಷಿ ಯನ್ನು ಕಾಪಾಡಿಕೋ. ಬಂದು ಹೋಗುವ ಕಷ್ಟ ದುಖ ಶೋಕ ಎಂಬ ಜಿಂಕೆಗಳು, ಪಂಚ ಇಂದ್ರಿಯಗಳು, ನಿನ್ನ ಬೆಳೆಯನ್ನು ತಿಂದು ಹಾಳು ಮಾಡದಿರಲಿ.
ಎಚ್ಚರ
ಸತತವಾಗಿ ನಿನ್ನನ್ನು ನೀ ಗಮನಿಸುತ್ತಿರು
ನಿನ್ನ
ಆತ್ಮವನ್ನು ನೀನೆ
ಪ್ರಶ್ನಿಸಬೇಡ. ಆತ್ಮ
ಸಂಶಯಕ್ಕೆ ಅವಕಾಶ
ಕೊಡಬೇಡ.
ನಿನ್ನ ಹೊಲವನ್ನು ಕಾಪಾಡಲು ನಾಲ್ಕು ದಿಕ್ಕಿನಲ್ಲೂ ಜ್ಞಾನ ಭಕ್ತಿ ವೈರಾಗ್ಯ ಧ್ಯಾನ ಎಂಬ ಕಾವಲು ಗಾರರನ್ನು ನೇಮಿಸು.
ತಿಳಿ.
ಕೃಷಿಯನ್ನು ಸಂಕ್ರಾಂತಿಯವರೆಗೂ
ಪಸಲು ಕೊಡುವವರೆಗೂ
ರಕ್ಷಿಸಬೇಕು. ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ
ತನಕ ಕೆಲಸ
ಮುಗಿದಿಲ್ಲ.
ಮಹಾ ಮಹಾ ಋಷಿ ಜ್ಞಾನಿ ಸಂತ ಭಕ್ತ ಗಳು ಸಹ ಮೋಸ ಹೋಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ನಾನು ನೀನು ಯಾವ ಸಮಾ. . ಆದರೆ ಹೆದರ ಬೇಡ ಸಾಧು ಮಾನವನೇ,
ಕೇಳು ಸಾಧು ಮಾನವನೇ, ಕಬೀರ ಮಾತಾಡುತ್ತಾನೆ, ಕೇವಲ ನಾಮದ ಬೀಜ ವೊಂದನ್ನು ನೆಡುತ್ತಾ ಬಾ
