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> THE STATE OF SAHAJ

Source: Private archive

In this poem Kabir describes what Saints mean by the term Sahaj. Sahaj is that natural state of the Soul from which it originally came. It is beyond all the physical limitations and changes that govern the world of matter. It is also beyond the causal factors of time and space, creation and destruction. It is changeless, uniform and everlasting. Beyond the spiritual region of Sunn – a realm above the domains of mind, maya and the negative power – it is not to be confused with the state of Samadhi, the trance of the yogis. Kabir, describing it as inaccessible, indestructible and everlasting, makes it clear that Sahaj is the supreme region where the Lord abides. Concluding the poem, he says that Sahaj is the region where the Master, inwardly, always stays and the devotee too can attain it – through the Master’s grace.

Where there is neither sear nor rains,
Nor sun nor shade;
Where there is neither creation
Nor dissolution;
Where prevails neither life nor death,
Nor pain nor pleasure;
Beyond the states of Sunn and trance;
Beyond words, O friend,
Is that unique state of Sahaj.
It can be neither weighed
Nor exhausted,
It is neither heavy nor light;
It has no upper regions
Nor lower ones;
It knows not the dawn of day
Nor the gloom of night;
Where there is neither wind
Nor water nor fire,
There abides the perfect Master.
It is inaccessible,
It is incomprehensible,
It is and it ever will be:
Attain it through the Master’s grace.
Sayeth Kabir: I surrender myself
At the feet of my Master,
I remain absorbed
In his true company.