झीनी झीनी बीनी चदरिया॥
काहे कै ताना काहे कै भरनी
कौन तार से बीनी चदरिया॥
इड़ा पिंगला ताना भरनी
सुखमन तार से बीनी चदरिया॥
आठ कँवल दल चरखा डोलै
पाँच तत्त्व गुन तीनी चदरिया॥
साँई को सियत मास दस लागे
ठोंक ठोंक कै बीनी चदरिया॥
सो चादर सुर नर मुनि ओढ़ी
ओढ़ि कै मैली कीनी चदरिया॥
दास कबीर जतन करि ओढ़ी
ज्यों की त्यों धर दीनी चदरिया॥
Jhini jhini bini chadariya.
Kahe kai tana kahe kai bharni,
kaun tar se bini chadariya.
Ira Pingala tana bharni,
Sukhman tar se bini chadariya.
Ath kanval dal charkha dolai,
panch tattva gun tini chadariya.
Sain ko siyat mas das lage,
thonk thonk kai bini chadariya.
So chadar sur nar muni odhi,
odhi kai maili kini chadariya.
Das Kabir jatan kari odhi,
jyon ki tyon dhar dini chadariya.
Meaning
Finely, finely woven is this sheet.
What is its warp, what is its weft, with what thread was the sheet woven?
Ida and Pingala are the warp and weft; it was woven with the thread of Sushumna.
The spinning wheel of the eight-petalled lotus turns; the sheet is made of the five elements and three gunas.
It took the Lord ten months to sew it; he beat it close, stroke by stroke, as he wove.
Devas, men and munis have worn this sheet, and in wearing it they soiled it.
Kabir, the servant, wore it with care and laid it down just as it was.
About this bhajan
Kabir was a weaver of Kashi, and here he speaks in his trade. The body is a fine sheet: Ida and Pingala the warp and weft, Sushumna the thread, ten months of gestation the time on the loom. Everyone who receives it stains it. Kabir’s boast is the only boast in his poetry, and a quiet one: he gave it back unstained. The last line is said at funerals and memorials across the Hindi belt, and Kumar Gandharva’s nirguni singing carried this bhajan to concert halls.
Kabir, nirguna pada; text as on Kavita Kosh