Hansa Moti bikaniya by Kabir

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hansa moti bikaniya, kanchan thar bharai,
jo jako marm na janai, so tako kahh karai.


Meaning:

The soul is sold for a golden dish full of pearls. What can he do with it who does not know its value.

Commentary:

It is well known that in the world the majority of people will pursue material wealth. There are rare ones who will pursue spiritual wealth. Pearls here represent spiritual wisdom, or spiritual teachings, given by a master to his disciple. That disciple, who has the gift of spiritual discrimination, will be able to make use of the teachings, but the disciple, lacking spiritual discrimination, will not be able to make use of the divine teachings given by his master. In this sakhi Guru Kabir is pointing out to us what we should already know, but which we seem to disregard. As an example he stated: "Though the bee is far away it will come to the flower attracted by its fragrance. What can the poor frog do though it is right on the lotus". The injunction here is that we must not seek material treasures which cannot give us ultimate happiness, freedom, and liberation. We must seek the spiritual wealth by using our discriminative intelligence and attain salvation.