THE BATTLE OF LIBERATION

                                                                                                                                  

                        

                                         Kabīr aisā ko nahī manḏar ḏe▫e jarā▫e ||

                                    Pāʼncẖa▫o larike mār kai rahai rām li▫o lā▫e ||

 
                           ( Kabeer, will anyone set fire to his home,and kill his five sons  to                                                          remain  lovingly attached to the Lord ?)

                 ~~(Salok Bhagat Kabeer Ji-o ke, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Jee:Ang 1368)

                                           

                                             THE BATTLE OF LIBERATION

Once weary thou art of playing thy part,

The desire of liberation comes to thy heart.

But O' dear thou knoweth not the way,

Thou indulge in vices and simply pray.

Thou can be free, if thou have a will,

But thou need to burn, and need to kill !

At this, thou art adept, O' man,

It became thy art, as ages ran.

But, wait O' man, this battle is strange,

It has no presence of hate or rage,

It requires no weapons which thou proudly own,

No armies,no foes that thou have known.

To a battle field thou need not rush,

There's no place to blow,no blood to gush.

This is something queer,so thou may spurn,

But, still, thou need to kill and burn !

With detachment as thy weapon,and will by thy side,

Put to flames, the house ,in which thou reside,

The house of desires, created in thy mind,

Where thou crave for more; no comfort thou find.

And then thy sons thou need to slay,

All the five, who lead thou astray.

The sons produced by thy mind,

Loving whom, the father turns blind !

The first son, is superfluous lust,

Which conquers thy character and makes it rust.

It poses a threat as it escalates,

It traps thou within and closes the gates.

The second son of the mind is ire,

Which abducts sanity and puts thou on fire.

Being enslaved by it, thy ruin is certain

On patience and logic it put's a curtain.

Avarice is the third in this store,

It makes thou long for more and more.

By hook or by crook, thou get it done,

Still away from contentment, carries this son.

Attachment, their sibling, is the fourth son.

It makes thou a fool in the long run.

On that which is transitory, it makes thou rely,

And thou art left alone, when things fly.

Pride, the fifth son, is an impostor great,

It puts thou on a ladder, so the lowly thou hate.

As thou reach high and say," I am the Lord of all",

It removes then the ladder, and you have a dire fall!

So, in the field of war, which is thy mind,

Wipe the treachery,which keeps thou confined.

For these sons, cease to care,

The fruits of their deeds,none will share.

But rarity art those,such a battle who fight,

For the seekers of Truth,art none in sight.

But the ones who fight and vanquish the mind,

Art merged into Him, where peace they find!

Reviews

[Prabha Salimath]

No more words just excellent.....

[Inda]

Such a fantastic exploration of the desires of man and the faults in some desires. Just a freat narrative that makes it easy to follow and of course like always flawless flow.

[Mayank]

Its an amazing work, this talks about the various desires of the mind from which we shall detach. For e.g Pride, attachment, greed etc

[Dayran]

It makes a great case for family planning ... or an understanding of the world. It also refers to considerable ... re-cultivation of the mind after the house is burnt down. A nice reach into the realm of the senses.

[John Anderson]

This is fantastic on so many levels

[Rehan Roy]

The analogy of father and his five sons to the mind and five senses is thoughtful and enlightening. The mind should command senses. However, it's the opposite more or less usually. Though the power of senses seem invincible at moments, it can be subdued by the art of detachment and practice of willpower as the greats have said. Thank you for sharing this great poetry :)