Anhad Ka Baaja : The Primordial Silent Soul Song

Co-creators – Kabir Bani via Kabir Project by Shabnam Virmani; Hindi seed translation via Pallavi Garg; English interpretative poetry and musical expression via Shahana Dattagupta; 

Kabir Bani

Ras mand mandar baajata, baahar sune to kya hua?                        

Sunta nahin dhun ki khabar, anahad ka baaja baajata

          Gaanja apheem aur post bhaang, gaanja sharaaben peevata

          Ek prem ras chaakha nahin, amalee hua to kya hua?

Kaashi gaya aur Dwaarka, teeratha sakala bharamada phire

Gaanthee na kholi kapat ki, teeratha gaya to kya hua?

           Pothee kitabein vanchata, auron ko nita samjhaavata

          Dar ghat mahal khoja nahin, bak bak maraa to kya hua?

Kaazi kitabein kholta, karta naseehat aur ko

Mehram nahin us haal se, Kaazi hua to kya hua?

English Translation

The Divine music plays unheard in the body temple

So what if you hear the worldly orchestra assemble?

You heed not the message from the resonance within

You neglect the soul song that tells you everything!

          You lift yourself with substances of every single kind

          You roam high on addictions claiming bliss of mind!

          Yet not once do you taste of Love’s intoxication –

          So what if you can boast of psychedelic visions?

You travel from Kashi to Mecca to Jerusalem

You wander around nonstop looking for asylum!

Yet erase not the sham in your very own image –

So what if you conquered the world in pilgrimage?

          You devour the theories in tomes dense and heavy

          You then wax them eloquent to all and sundry!

          Yet peek not a moment in the palace of your soul –

          So what if you die blabbering scriptures whole?

You’ve even gone and become the well-followed sage

You offer guidance and discourses on decorated stage!

Yet you know not of the Union state even remotely –

So what if you are proclaimed as the one?