INNER DEPTHS

Student, do the simple purification.
You know that the seed is inside the horse chestnut tree;
and inside the seed there are the
blossoms of the tree, and the chestnuts,
and the shade.
So inside the human body there is the seed,
and inside the seed,
there is the human body again.
Fire, air, earth, water, and space –
If you don’t want the secret one,
you can’t have these either.
Thinkers, listen, tell me what you know of
that is not inside the soul?
Take a pitcher full of water and set it down
on the water –
Now it has water inside and water outside.
We mustn’t give it a name,
lest silly people start talking again about
the body and the soul.
If you want the truth, I’ll tell you truth:
Listen to the secret sound, the real sound,
which is inside you.
The one no one talks of speaks the secret
sound to himself,
and he is the one which has made it all.

 Kabir (translated by Robert Bly)