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is there any point in putting a sheet on your bed with the word God' printed on it so that others can read it. This will serve no purpose whatsoever. The name of RAM has to send thrills pulsating through your whole body.
ROUSED, ECSTATIC WITH HIS NAME,
LOVE-DRUNK, OVERFLOWING,
REVELING IN HIS VISION.
WHY BOTHER WITH LIBERATION?
Kabir is saying something very unique here. He is saying that a man who becomes saturated with the taste of that name becomes so aroused, becomes so ecstatic from having drunk so much, that he begins to overflow. You will only be able to love others when you become so overwhelmed by the love of God that it begins to overflow from your very being. This is the state of an ecstatic man. A moment comes when you have so much love you will go mad if you do not share it, when you are so filled with love you will be in great difficulty if you do not empty yourself. In another poem Kabir says to empty yourself with both hands.
But your present condition is quite the opposite. Each of you is like an empty bowl. You wander about like a beggar, beseeching others to fill your bowl with love. You are beggars. You ask everyone you meet to toss you a scrap of love. Your eyes are desperate for love; they are begging for love, and even if someone bestows a little smile on you, you are thrilled. There is no end to your beggarliness. If someone tosses a stone in your begging-bowl you think you have been given a diamond.
Among yourselves you beg love from each other all the time. You clamor after it. And bear in mind that those from whom you are begging are as empty of love as you. They can only give you consolation; they cannot give you love. Even if they want to give you love, they cannot. You are beggars standing before other beggars with your begging-bowls.
Every beggar is an egoist; every beggar thinks he is an emperor. But inside he is still a beggar. He speaks of giving only so he can get. You give a little love to someone else, but you only do so because you want love in return. It is a bargain. The other is only trying to barter in love; he is only trying to exploit you too.
In this world
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