kabir doha

Kabira Khara Bazaar Mein, Mange Sabki Khair
Na Kahu Se Dosti, Na Kahu Se Bair

Translation

Kabira in the market place, wishes welfare of all
Neither friendship nor enmity with anyone at all

My Understanding

Kabir, the professional weaver, visited the market place to sell his woven goods. Now selling is a competitive affair and all kinds of strategies are adopted by merchants to make the extra buck. Sometimes the strategy can even be a dirty trick or a scam.

In this doha, as is his style, Kabir without saying much, presents a balanced approach. He seems to affirm that while conducting one's business, one need not adopt tricky means and should not become emotional. An honest deal does not warrant the businessman to become either friendly with one's clientele nor develop any malice. This is one of the important maxims of Do's and Don'ts of any progressive business.

From spiritual and mystic point of view, Bazaar is a reference to the world itself where give and take, is the mechanism of dealings...i.e. all relationships at the physical level are conditional and based on business-like (not literally business) transactions. So Kabir is giving us an idea of how we experience ups and downs due to attachments - i.e. due to strong feelings towards or against things. And he says the best way to avoid that is by being in a state of acceptance and detachment