काहे री नलिनी तू कुमिलानी।
तेरे ही नालि सरोवर पानी॥
जल में उतपति जल में बास, जल में नलिनी तोर निवास।
ना तलि तपति न ऊपरि आगि, तोर हेतु कहु कासनि लागि॥
कहे कबीर जे उदकि समान, ते नहिं मुए हमारे जान॥
Kahe ri nalini tu kumilani,
tere hi nali sarovar pani.
Jal mein utpati jal mein bas, jal mein nalini tor nivas,
na tali tapati na upari agi, tor hetu kahu kasani lagi.
Kahe Kabir je udaki saman, te nahin mue hamare jan.
Meaning
Why, lotus, have you withered? The water of the lake is right there in your own stem.
You were born in water, you live in water, your home is in water. There is no heat beneath you and no fire above; tell me, for whose love have you pined?
Kabir says: those who have become one with the water do not die, as far as I know.
About this bhajan
A short riddle-pada. The lotus is the soul; the water is the Lord in whom it was born and in whom it lives. Its wilting is the soul’s needless sorrow, pining for what already fills its own stem. The last line gives Kabir’s answer: the one who merges with that water is beyond death. Teachers of Kabir use it to explain his idea of God within, and it appears in school anthologies of his verse.
Kabir Granthavali, padas; text as on Kavita Kosh