AdbhutaAdvanced

देखि-देखि जिय अचरज होई

Dekhi-Dekhi Jiya Acharaj Hoi

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1 verses · ~1 min

देखि-देखि जिय अचरज होई यह पद बूझें बिरला कोई॥ धरती उलटि अकासै जाय, चिउंटी के मुख हस्ति समाय। बिना पवन सो पर्वत उड़े, जीव जन्तु सब वृक्षा चढ़े। सूखे सरवर उठे हिलोरा, बिनु जल चकवा करत किलोरा। बैठा पण्डित पढ़े कुरान, बिन देखे का करत बखान। कहहि कबीर यह पद को जान, सोई सन्त सदा परबान॥

इति

Rasa: Adbhuta
Stanzas: 1
Lines: 6
Reading time: ~1 min
Form: Pada
Metre: pada
Rhyme: AABBCC

The poem radiates a surreal, mystical atmosphere charged with the rasa of adbhuta, invoking a profound sense of cosmic wonder and epistemological shock. A visual depiction would present a dreamlike, upside-down reality where the familiar laws of nature are utterly subverted: the earth overturns into the sky, a tiny ant swallows a massive elephant whole, windless mountains take flight, and all living creatures ascend into the trees. In the dry, cracked bed of a withered lake, mysterious waves rise and ripple while water-birds play in a phantom fluid, all while a scholar sits blindly reciting scriptures of things he has never witnessed. Through these paradoxical, impossible juxtapositions, the verse symbolizes the inversion of mundane perception and the shattering of orthodox dogma in pursuit of ultimate truth. The overall tone is enigmatic, revelatory, and deeply philosophical, celebrating the rare visionary saint who can decipher the cosmic joke of existence.

देखि-देखि जिय अचरज होई (Dekhi-Dekhi Jiya Acharaj Hoi), by Kabir runs to 6 lines, set as Six-line mystical poem. Its governing rasa is Adbhuta, shaded by Shanta. The metre is pada. Rhyme falls as AABBCC.

It belongs to the 1398 · 1518 span of Kabir's working life, and keeps the plain, spoken register that period is known for.

Read it for संसार की विपरीत आध्यात्मिक गतियों का वर्णन and बिना अनुभव के केवल शास्त्र ज्ञान की व्यर्थता. 2 words in it carry older or regional senses, so the poem rewards a second pass.

The verse is hung beside Varaha: Bathed in a cool and reverent atmosphere, this lithograph radiates a majestic yet serene emotional resonance. The scene depicts Varaha, the divine boar incarnation of Lord Vishnu, triumphantly emerging from the churning…

Words worth pausing on

हस्ति: हाथी
किलोरा: क्रीड़ा या आनंद

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The Poet

कबीर

Kabir

1398 · 1518

To speak of Kabir within the ordinary parameters of literary biography is almost impossible. Born in the fifteenth century to a Muslim weaver's family in the sacred Hindu city of Banaras, he became a voice that refused to be domesticated by any temple, mosque, or scholarly apparatus. Kabir claimed no scripture, no caste, and no sacred language as his exclusive property. He stood at the loom of reality and wove his dohas (devastating two-line couplets) from the raw thread of direct spiritual encounter. His critique was not merely religious but civilizational. He asked with the serene ferocity of an awakened mind why human beings had chosen the architecture of division over the open sky of the divine. Centuries have passed, empires have crumbled, and languages have shifted. Yet, Kabir's couplets are still recited in village squares and debated in universities today. He requires no temple because he built one inside language itself. He is the conscience of the Indian soul.