Wisdom of Kabir: The Art of Sailing without ‘Head’

कहे कबीर, जो बिन सर खेवे, सो यह सुमती बखाने

Sant Kabir says, the one who sails without head, gets the ultimate wisdom.

Why so?

For our entire lives, we have been told that our head is what guides us in this world. We firmly believe that our mind is what helps us to remain and succeed in the world. We are always interested in the minds of people- minds of scientists, minds of artists, minds of entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos these days!

kabir on mind

When we live our lives, the focus is always the mind- how to make it sharper, how to make it more logical, how to increase the memory and retain the information for a longer time etc.

So, our entire life is focused on making the mind stronger. And on the other hand, Kabir says, the one who sails without the head i.e. the one who lives the life without his mind, gets the ultimate wisdom.

Why so?

At this point, one has to understand two things clearly. First – our mind is a utility and certainly helps us with the day-to-day activities of our life. Second –  our mind has no value beyond that; it likes things to remain always good, which is contradictory to the nature.

When Kabir says live the life without your mind, he is not asking us to stop using our mind in our day to day life. He is not asking us to stop thinking or memorizing the important things. On the other hand, he is asking us to be free of the limitations that our mind imposes on us. The true wisdom lies beyond the cage which our mind is. Fear is a byproduct of mind; so is greed, lust, ambition, ego and everything else. Mind itself is changing and distracts the walker from the path. Mind is not subtle to catch the subtle wisdom.

Condemning the mind or criticizing the mind is not the solution; rather one should understand the mind in its totality and simply move beyond it. Using mind and not getting used by it is the key.

 

 

 


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