ShantaBeginner

रे दिल गाफिल

Re Dil Gafil

Kabir

1 min read 5 versesWarning Death World

5 verses · ~1 min

रे दिल गाफिल गफलत मत कर एक दिना जम आवेगा॥ टेक॥

सौदा करने या जग आया पूजी लाया मूल गँवाया प्रेमनगर का अन्त न पाया ज्यों आया त्यों जावेगा॥ १॥

सुन मेरे साजन सुन मेरे मीता या जीवन में क्या क्या कीता सिर पाहन का बोझा लीता आगे कौन छुड़ावेगा॥ २॥

परलि पार तेरा मीता खडिया उस मिलने का ध्यान न धरिया टूटी नाव उपर जा बैठा गाफिल गोता खावेगा॥ ३॥

दास कबीर कहै समुझाई अन्त समय तेरा कौन सहाई चला अकेला संग न को किया अपना पावेगा॥ ४॥

इति

Rasa: Shanta
Stanzas: 5
Lines: 18
Reading time: ~1 min
Form: Pada
Metre: pada
Rhyme: AABB

The poem evokes a solemn, meditative atmosphere of quiet awakening and sobering introspection, grounded in the shanta rasa of profound peace achieved through detachment. Visually, a painting of this scene would depict a solitary traveler standing at a desolate crossroads or by a dark, mist-shrouded riverbank, bearing a heavy load of literal stones upon their head while a frail, splintered boat sits half-submerged nearby. Symbolic motifs of the merchant who has lost his capital and the foolish wanderer crossing treacherous waters on a broken vessel underscore the vanity of worldly pursuits in the face of inevitable death and the impending arrival of the divine accountant, Yamraj. The overall artistic and emotional tone is earnest, admonishing, and deeply devotional, urging the soul to abandon slumber and seek ultimate truth before departing the world entirely alone.

रे दिल गाफिल (Re Dil Gafil), by Kabir runs to 18 lines across 5 stanzas, set as Four-stanza song with a refrain (Tek). Its governing rasa is Shanta, shaded by Bhayanaka. The metre is pada. Rhyme falls as AABB.

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 जीवन की क्षणभंगुरता और प्रमाद का निषेध and अंतिम समय में केवल सत्कर्मों की सहायता. 3 words in it carry older or regional senses, so the poem rewards a second pass.

The verse is hung beside Savitri and Satyavan with Yama: The painting evokes a mood of solemn gravity and transcendent devotion, set within a shadowed forest clearing where mortality hangs in the balance. In the foreground, Satyavan lies peacefully asleep, unaware that his…

Words worth pausing on

गाफिल: असावधान या बेखबर
जमु: यमराज या मृत्यु का दूत
पाहन: पत्थर

Threads

Warning Death World

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.