Kabir on love

Came across this wonderful article by my dear friend Mandar Karanjkar...putting the article directly from his website:

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पोथी पढी पढी जग मुवा पंडित भया न कोय

ढाई आखर प्रेम का पढे सो पंडित होय

Translation:

[Entire world is engrossed in reading scriptures but no one has become ‘learned’. The one who understands two and half alphabets of love, attains the wisdom.]

Kabir walked the path of love. This doha of Kabir on love is unique. This doha is probably the most famous of all of his couplets. ‘Dhai Akhar Prem Ka’ is probably the most used phrase which is used to describe the love. Long ago, I used to participate in state and national level debate competitions. Many of these competitions would have at least one topic related to love. It used to be a tough task when almost each of the contestants would repeat this Doha of Kabir in his speech, to describe the love. At that time, I along with many other participants, used to curse Kabir for coming up with this couplet.

Fun apart, when I grew up, studying philosophy, religions, spirituality, at some point I realised that ultimately, everything ends (and hence starts) at love. Love is the point of liberation, love is the boundary line, between human and divine. After this realization, I completely changed my way and this Doha of Kabir, which describes love in all its grandeur, has helped me a lot. It will be very interesting as well as enlightening to explore this wonderful piece in more depth.

[Entire world is engrossed in reading scriptures but no one has become ‘learned’. The one who understands two and half alphabets of love, attains the wisdom.]

Sant Kabir makes some things clearly visible in this doha on love. The first bold point which he makes is about the futility of reading scriptures. This was a very bold statement if one considers the time frame in which Kabir existed. Kabir was a sober saint, who unlike Osho, avoided controversy. But still, Kabir finds it necessary to tell masses that scriptures have lost their edge; that they have lost the magic, the power to transform the lives. It is important to understand that in Kabir’s era, people were engrossed in not only reading scriptures but also in debating and arguing with scholars. People were taking everything intellectually, without catching the flavour. As we are aware, we can write and talk a lot about love. But, unless you actually experience the love, there is no way of knowing it. Imagine Kabir, the one who had tasted this eternal nectar of love, surrounded by scholars (Pundits) endlessly arguing and debating about love. The first line is for all those scholars- who reduce everything to mere intellectual level. Kabir rightly says,

‘The entire world is reading scriptures but no one has become ‘learned’’

Kabir somewhere wants to point out that this direction is itself wrong; the practice of reading scriptures is itself wrong. It’s like finding gold in vegetable market. It is a fundamental mistake."

                                                    with love from  http://www.mandarkaranjkar.com/doha-of-kabir-on-love-dhai-akhar-prem-ka/