Analysis of I Said To The Wanting-Creature Inside Me

Kabir 1440 (Banaras) – 1518 (Maghar)



I said to the wanting-creature inside me:
What is this river you want to cross?
There are no travelers on the river-road, and no road.
Do you see anyone moving about on that bank, or nesting?

There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatman.
There is no tow rope either, and no one to pull it.
There is no ground, no sky, no time, no bank, no ford!

And there is no body, and no mind!
Do you believe there is some place that will make the
soul less thirsty?
In that great absence you will find nothing.

Be strong then, and enter into your own body;
there you have a solid place for your feet.
Think about it carefully!
Don't go off somewhere else!

Kabir says this: just throw away all thoughts of
imaginary things,
and stand firm in that which you are.


Scheme AXXB XXX XXAB AXAX XXX
Poetic Form
Metre 11101010011 111101111 11110010101011 111101001111110 11110110110110 1111110011111 111111111111 011110011 110111111110 1110 0111011110 111010011110 1110101111 1011100 11111 1111101111 01001 01101111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 747
Words 150
Sentences 14
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 3, 4, 4, 3
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 116
Words per stanza (avg) 30
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 06, 2023

45 sec read
169

Kabir

Kabīr was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. The name Kabir comes from Arabic al-Kabīr which means 'The Great' – the 37th name of God in Islam. Kabir's legacy is today carried forward by the Kabir Panth, a religious community that recognizes him as its founder and is one of the Sant Mat sects. Its members, known as Kabir panthis, are estimated to be around 9,600,000. They are spread over north and central India, as well as dispersed with the Indian diaspora across the world, up from 843,171 in the 1901 census. His writings include Bijak, Sakhi Granth, Kabir Granthawali and Anurag Sagar. more…

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