I was listening to a song by Indian Ocean called Jhini. The original song was written by Kabir. The analogy used in the song is wonderful. So I wanted to write about it. First of all the lyrics of the song (from here).
jhini re jhini re jhini chadariya, jhini re jhini re jhini
ram naam ras bhini chadariya, jhini re jhini re jhini
ashta kamal dal charkha doley, panch tatva, gun tini
saiin ko siyat mas dus lagey, thokey-thokey ke bini
so chadar sur nar muni odi, odi ke maili kini chadariya
das kabir jatan so odi, jyon ki tyon dhar deen chadariya
The translation from the same site verbatim
This is fine, this is fine cloth.
It is been dipped in the name of the lord
The spinning wheel, like an eight-petal lotus, spins,
With five tatvas and three gunas as the pattern.
The Lord stiched it in 10 months
The threads have been pressed to get a tight weave.
It has been worn by gods, people, and sages
They soiled it with use.
Kabir says, I have covered my self with this cloth with great care,
And eventually will leave it like it was.
Kabir was a weaver himself and this song compares the human body to cloth. He used an analogy taken from his profession to express his philosophy, that is the beauty of this song. I believe the five tattvas refer to the panchabhutas or the five elements. There is an interesting article I found on the pancha tattvas. However, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself was a younger contemporary of Kabir as apparent from the dates given in Wikipedia. So I think I can safely assume that Kabir talking about the elements here.
I do not know what he means by the eight petalled lotus. There is a concept called the nava randhras which talks about nine orifices in the body. Thus the body has been described as a city with nine gates. Also, there is the concept of the seven chakras. But this eight is between the seven and nine and I am not sure what he is talking about. Trigunas refers to the three kinds of qualities that exist in man - saatvika, rajasika and taamasika. I don't want to say I understand these, so I won't comment. The 10 months period must refer to the pregnancy period and the making dirty refers to the soul being tainted by karma probably. More on this in the next post.
jhini re jhini re jhini chadariya, jhini re jhini re jhini
ram naam ras bhini chadariya, jhini re jhini re jhini
ashta kamal dal charkha doley, panch tatva, gun tini
saiin ko siyat mas dus lagey, thokey-thokey ke bini
so chadar sur nar muni odi, odi ke maili kini chadariya
das kabir jatan so odi, jyon ki tyon dhar deen chadariya
The translation from the same site verbatim
This is fine, this is fine cloth.
It is been dipped in the name of the lord
The spinning wheel, like an eight-petal lotus, spins,
With five tatvas and three gunas as the pattern.
The Lord stiched it in 10 months
The threads have been pressed to get a tight weave.
It has been worn by gods, people, and sages
They soiled it with use.
Kabir says, I have covered my self with this cloth with great care,
And eventually will leave it like it was.
Kabir was a weaver himself and this song compares the human body to cloth. He used an analogy taken from his profession to express his philosophy, that is the beauty of this song. I believe the five tattvas refer to the panchabhutas or the five elements. There is an interesting article I found on the pancha tattvas. However, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself was a younger contemporary of Kabir as apparent from the dates given in Wikipedia. So I think I can safely assume that Kabir talking about the elements here.
I do not know what he means by the eight petalled lotus. There is a concept called the nava randhras which talks about nine orifices in the body. Thus the body has been described as a city with nine gates. Also, there is the concept of the seven chakras. But this eight is between the seven and nine and I am not sure what he is talking about. Trigunas refers to the three kinds of qualities that exist in man - saatvika, rajasika and taamasika. I don't want to say I understand these, so I won't comment. The 10 months period must refer to the pregnancy period and the making dirty refers to the soul being tainted by karma probably. More on this in the next post.
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