u/Prabint8294

I was driving on the Confederation Bridge in New Brunswick, Canada, at around 5:30 in the morning, singing this bhajan that I just absolutely love, and I started recording it. The Confederation Bridge of Canada connects Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick and is 12.9 km long. Just so you know, below it’s all ocean!

I came across this bhajan through the Indian philosopher Acharya Prashant, whose interpretation really attracted me to this bhajan. I think I am still trying to grasp what exactly Kabir Sahab is trying to convey, but this is simply my personal take on it.

The lines I am singing in the video are:

“जुगन-जुगन समझावत हारा, कहा न मानत कोई रे।
तू तो रंगी फिरै बिहंगी, सब धन डारा खोई रे।”

“For ages, I have been trying to explain it; yet no one listens. You, like a bird, keep wandering coloured by the world, and in doing so, you lose all your real wealth.”

What I understood:

My understanding of these phrases of Kabir Sahab is that the truth has been spoken and reiterated over and over, but the mind is not willing to listen. It only seeks to keep moving along the path of seeking in colors, pleasures, possessions, achievements, etc., hoping that the next thing it will grasp will complete it.
He seems to be speaking to the ego: wherever the ego goes, like a chameleon, it takes on the colors of everything it encounters, be it consumerism, materialism, objects, or desires. In trying to fill its own emptiness, the ego keeps stuffing itself with more things that, sooner or later, it becomes burdened by.

However, whatever the ego takes on is not permanent. Objects, desires, relationships, even our dreams and worries, are all temporary. And in chasing after fleeting things to fill a void within ourselves, the ego has lost sight of what truly matters inside. Kabir Sahab’s metaphor of the mind as a bird, colored by the world and flitting from place to place, is what I think is trying to capture that sense of longing to fill this inner emptiness.
My personal reflection

What I feel is that this has been exactly the same with me in life. Five years ago, I was a completely different person; the things I desired, feared, and thought about don't really concern me much today. However, many new desires and fears have emerged in their place. What I thought was real and what I was fixated on is gone. I feel that today, I am worried about completely different things than I used to be.

This makes me ask myself: if my internal desires, ideas, and dreams can change so drastically, how can any of these things that are ‘mine’ be considered permanent? Isn’t everything that concerns me in life just like the mind changing from one color to another, from one desire to another, and confusing those to be permanent while wasting time and life doing so?

I don’t have an answer, but this bhajan makes me reflect on what I am chasing and what it is that I am really looking for. If there’s a stop to this endless running around, I would love to hear your personal take on these lines, and also to know if this interpretation is close to what you think Kabir Sahab could have meant here.

Full bhajan:

तेरा मेरा मनुआ कैसे एक होई रे।
मैं कहता हूँ आँखन देखी, तू कहता कागद की लेखी।
मैं कहता सुरझावनहारी, तू राख्यो उरझाई रे॥
मैं कहता तू जागत रहियो, तू जाता है सोई रे।
मैं कहता निरमोही रहियो, तू जाता है मोहि रे॥
जुगन-जुगन समझावत हारा, कहा न मानत कोई रे।
तू तो रंगी फिरै बिहंगी, सब धन डारा खोई रे॥
सतगुरु धारा निर्मल बहै, बामे काया धोई रे।
कहत कबीर सुनो भाई साधो, तब ही वैसा होई रे॥

Youtube vedio: https://youtu.be/08zoPSOtV6w?si=EzNUs7AXbBfavlAq

Yes, chaos is everywhere. We have created the chaos of the world, but is it absolutely necessary for us to be part of it? Or can there be discretion and action that exists outside of this mess?

I think there is, and there should be. Because if I know that something is a mess, then obviously there has to be something that is not the mess. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to recognize the mess in the first place.
So, what is the way? Is it to gain knowledge and become more precise in our understanding and description of things, so that we do not do anything that hurts others or exaggerates a problem that already exists in our society?

And by “problem,” I mean everything that we feel should not be, but is.

Generally, when prices rise, demand falls. But some things work the other way around. The more expensive luxury watches, designer bags, and luxury cars become, the more people want them.

In 1899, American economist Thorstein Veblen called this “conspicuous consumption” in his book The Theory of the Leisure Class that is, things are bought not for their use, but to display status. Such goods are now called “Veblen goods.”

In 2008, researchers from Stanford and Caltech had people taste the same wine with different price labels. The same wine tasted better when it had a $90 label than when it had a $10 label, and activity also increased in a part of the brain associated with pleasure. The taste was the same; only the price had changed.

So the question arises: Are we buying the thing, or its price? And ultimately, what are we trying to show, and to whom, through that price?

The moment we wear an expensive brand, a sense of reassurance arises within us: “Now people will look at me differently.” That means the real function of that thing is not to fulfil our need, but to manage how others see us. And whoever determines their own worth through the eyes of others needs something new and more expensive every year, because those eyes keep changing.

Social media has intensified this competition even further.

Expensive things, cheap life. The height that could not be reached in life begins to be compensated for through high-priced possessions. Behind every conspicuous purchase lies an incompleteness that says, “As I am, I am not enough.”

Convenience has meaning only when it makes some meaningful work better. Therefore, the question is not whether something is expensive or cheap. The question is whether my work is worthy of it, and whether this thing will help me in my work or merely help me show myself.

If the brand and the price were both removed from your most expensive possession, would you still want it just as much today?

Sources

Plassmann, H., O’Doherty, J., Shiv, B., & Rangel, A. (2008). Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness. PNAS, 105(3), 1050–1054.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0706929105

Veblen, T. (1899). The Theory of the Leisure Class.

https://moglen.law.columbia.edu/LCS/theoryleisureclass.pdf

Today, I was very happy to see Suchika Tariyal Hudda ji in the Gita session. She won India’s first medal in MMA and brought great recognition to the country. I also practice combat sports Muay Thai and Judo so seeing her in the Gita session was especially meaningful to me.
This is a video I made today. It is called sparring a form of practice done at a slightly lower intensity than an actual competition.

At my training ground, I have also noticed that very few women come to train, and when they do, they often don’t engage as aggressively as men. It made me wonder: is this partly the result of thousands of years of conditioning that a woman’s body is considered weaker than a man’s, and that she is supposed to be gentle, delicate, or even submissive?
Our coach, however, is herself a woman who has won a gold medal for Nepal. In today’s session, Acharya Prashant explained how the idea that a woman’s beauty lies in being gentle and dependent is largely a product of social conditioning. The dignity of being human lies in freedom and empowerment.

I have played many sports throughout my life handball for the Indian team, as well as football and basketball. For some reason, I eventually had to leave handball. More recently, I started Muay Thai and Judo. And through these sports, I can see the impact of Acharya Prashant’s teachings very clearly.

Earlier, I used to play with nervousness, restlessness, and fear of winning or losing. Naturally, that affected my performance. Now, my attention is more on the sport itself than on winning or losing, and my performance has become better and more effective on its own.
This is where I began to understand how important knowledge is. Knowledge is like a fire that removes darkness.

If I want to throw a precise punch in Muay Thai or take the right action, I first need to understand my opponent, my own body, my condition, my position, and the nature of the sport. To observe myself, understand my situation, place myself correctly, and then take the right step at the right moment that is real intelligence.
The same applies to life.

Life is short, and there are countless ways to get lost. There is an entire marketplace ready to confuse and entangle me. That is why I feel deeply grateful to have encountered someone like Acharya Prashant, through whom I receive knowledge that seems limitless knowledge that helps me understand myself, the world, my body, and society.

When I understand what the world is, what I am, and how we function, my actions can become clearer and more precise. If I act calmly after gaining the right understanding, there is no unnecessary expenditure of energy. Energy is preserved, and the arrow does not miss its target.

That is why education is so important. Without the right education and right knowledge, a person can spend an entire lifetime wandering without knowing which direction to take.

I can never thank Acharya Prashant enough. He has taught me not merely how to play, but how to observe, understand, and take the right step.

🙏 Every right step I take is a salutation to Acharya Prashant. 🙏

Observing today’s game, I understood that only speed, hard work, and the desire to reach the goal are not enough; it is also necessary to have awareness and right understanding at every step. In the game, every situation keeps changing, so the player has to continuously observe their position, their response, and their mistakes.

In life too, we are often engaged in the race for success, competition, and getting ahead of others. Sometimes we run after our desires, and sometimes we make decisions out of fear of failure. But we rarely stop and look at why we are doing this and which desire within us is driving us.

Real observation is to see oneself without any prejudice. Understanding our desires, fears, ego, and our reactions is the beginning of knowing ourselves. Until we understand ourselves, our life continues to run merely according to habits, desires, and reactions. Action performed with awareness gives us the opportunity to understand ourselves and to see life with clarity.

~ Posted by a Geeta Student