Songs of Kabir- I

Kabir-granthavali 29

Everyone keeps saying 

But no one knows where is Paradise.

Who do not know one perimeter, they describe paradise in their talks. 

When hope for paradise ignites, God's refuge respites. 

How will you know paradise through hearsay, until you check out the place yourself. 

Paradise, says Kabir, be sought in good company. 

KG 29 (my translation)

          Kabir's expression of the mythic Paradise catches attention. His mocking tone is reminscent of the bhakti movement which propelled the tradition of the poet-saint. The mockery of the belief in paradise (बैकुंठ) and the intense desire to secure entry to the unknown, unseen, unmapped paradise tickles thoughts of cynicism. Religion, irrespective of the kind or type, always create a dream surrounding the positives and blissfulness of the Paradise. 

Those who talk or release a discourse of paradise are themselves logically lame to comment on paradise. Why there is this want of a life after life? Let the life on earth be made peaceful, joyful and meaningful. Again, those who are agnostic they could understand the above poem or else will doubt the poet himself.

However, Kabir does refer to hari (God) and His refuge that can lead to paradise. But he emphasizes on possessing a good company which can furnish heaven, or make a "hell of a heaven" to borrow Miltonic tagline. 

Now, the question rests on how many of us look for a good company? Whether it requires further philosophising? 

Tivari, Parasnath, editor. Kabir-granthavali, Allahabad, 1961.

Mehrotra, A.K. Songs of Kabir. Translated by A. K. Mehrotra. Hachette India, 2011.