The Simple Purification

Student, do the simple purification.

You know that the seed is inside the horse-chestnut tree,

and inside the seed there are the horse-chestnut blossoms, and

the chestnuts, and the shade.

So inside the human body there is the seed, and inside the seed

there is the human body again.

Fire, air, earth, water, and space – if you don’t want the secret

one,

you can’t have these either.

Thinkers, listen, tell me what you know of that is not inside

the soul?

Take a pitcher full of water and set it down on the water –

now it has water inside and water outside.

We mustn’t give it a name, lest silly people start talking

again about the body and the soul.

If you want the truth, I’ll tell you the truth:

Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you.

The one no one talks of speaks the secret sound to himself,

and he’s the one who has made it all.

– Kabir