Hirna samajh boojh ban charana
O deer, graze in the forest with understanding and awareness.
Ek ban charna, duje ban charna, tije ban pag nahi dharana
Graze in the first forest, graze in the second forest, but do not set foot in the third forest.
Tije ban mein paanch pardhi, un ke nazar nahi padna
In the third forest lie five hunters; ensure you do not fall under their gaze.
Paanch hirna pachiis hirni, un me ek tu chatur na
Surrounded by five deer and twenty-five doe, among them all, be clever (stay alert).
Tohe maar tere maas bikave, tere khaal ka karenge bichona
They will kill you, sell your meat, and turn your hide into a rug.
Kahe kabira sun bhai sadho, guru ke charan chit dharna
Says Kabir, listen, O seekers, fix your mind on the feet of the Guru.
Yes, it is a beautiful bhajan and was sung in a soulful way in the Camp. Here is the deeper mystic sense of this poem of Saint Kabir.
The deer (Hirana) is the soul trying to make swift spiritual progress. The three forests through which it moves and eats (takes in their experiences) are the mental, vital and physical world and their corresponding energies: sattwa, rajas, tamas. Saint Kabir is advising us not to entertain tamas, that is to say, take in (eat), absorb energies of tamasic nature. These include alcohol, smoke, drugs, dark energies in general, as they create a state of inertia and pull the consciousness down. The five hunters looking out for the deer are the five lower vital forces of lust, anger, greed, vital attachments, jealousy. Of course, we can add fear, ambition and vanity. The five deer are the five objects of the senses, the five elements that surround us. The 25 does are the 25 elements of nature, Prakriti. It is clearly inspired by the Sankhya understanding of creation. They are part of what constitutes our world as we experience it. The mystic saint is asking us to move through them, in short through the entire field of Nature cleverly, that is to say, using the discerning intelligence. Else these energies and forces of Nature, if not used with discernment, will eat us up and destroy us. Interestingly, he uses the same hirana or deer and doe image for the field of Nature as for the soul. It is so because in a state of ignorance, the soul identifies with these elements and mistakes the true self for the images and reflections in the field of Nature until the discerning intellect (cleverly) learns to separate the real from the lookalike.
Finally, he advices the aspirant who wants to progress swiftly to practice complete surrender and obedience to the Guru, to fix our mind upon Him in a state of complete surrender which alone can help us go through life and the sadhana safely.
In essence, the spiritual path is always full of dangers from within (one’s own nature) and without (the cosmic forces). One should be alert and vigilant; above all, surrender oneself to the Master, which is the biggest safety from the ego-self and vanity that opens the doors to every possible downfall.
Since you have asked in Sri Aurobindo and The Motherโs Light, here is a passage along similar lines that reminds us how to go through the path safely.
‘To walk through life armoured against all fear, peril and disaster, only two things are needed, two that go always togetherโthe Grace of the Divine Mother and on your side an inner state made up of faith, sincerity and surrender. Let your faith be pure, candid and perfect. An egoistic faith in the mental and vital being tainted by ambition, pride, vanity, mental arrogance, vital self-will, personal demand, desire for the petty satisfactions of the lower nature is a low and smoke-obscured flame that cannot burn upwards to heaven. Regard your life as given you only for the divine work and to help in the divine manifestation. Desire nothing but the purity, force, light, wideness, calm, Ananda of the divine consciousness and its insistence to transform and perfect your mind, life and body. Ask for nothing but the divine, spiritual and supramental Truth, its realisation on earth and in you and in all who are called and chosen and the conditions needed for its creation and its victory over all opposing forces.
Let your sincerity and surrender be genuine and entire. When you give yourself, give completely, without demand, without condition, without reservation so that all in you shall belong to the Divine Mother and nothing be left to the ego or given to any other power.
The more complete your faith, sincerity and surrender, the more will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and protection of the Divine Mother are with you, what is there that can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry you through all difficulties, obstacles and dangers; surrounded by its full presence you can go securely on your way because it is hers, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility however powerful, whether from this world or from worlds invisible. Its touch can turn difficulties into opportunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaltering strength. For the grace of the Divine Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and now or tomorrow its effect is sure, a thing decreed, inevitable and irresistible.’
(Ref. https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/32/the-mother-iii)
Affectionately,ย
Alok Da
