सखी, कान्हा बिन कछु सूझत नाहीं…

कित वे मुरली, कित कदम्ब की छैया…

Says Radha Rani to her companions, ‘Without Kanha, I am listless… Where is his flute, where is the shade of the Kadamb tree where he played upon the flute?’

कित वे पीत वसन, कित वे त्रिभंगी, नयन कछु ना दीखत सखी

Where are his yellow garments. Where is Krishna, who stands in a tribhangi pose. I don’t see him. More...

हो जावे जे प्यार ते सौंना भुल जांदा

कीते होन इकरार ते सौंना भुल जांदा More...

Raskhan’s poems (sawaiya verses) in praise of Krishna.

करनी बिन कथनी कथै, अज्ञानी दिन रात।

कूकर सम भूकत फिरै, सुनी सुनाई बात॥

Kabir Das says in this saakhi verse that a person who has heard wise sayings might be repeating them to others without really practicing the same, quite like a dog that barks without making itself understood.

A sadhak, a seeker, should be mindful to practice and should not preach without personal experience through practice. It is a waste.

हमें रास्तों की ज़रूरत नहीं है

हमें तेरे पैरों के निशां मिल गये हैं

अब तेरा मैं हूँ, मुझ में ही तू है

हमें रास्तों की ज़रूरत नहीं है

हमें तेरे पैरों के निशां मिल गये हैं

भूलूं ना याद तुम्हारी सुनो बनवारी, कि जिया घबराय रहा रे

मेरे मन में उठी है उमंग रे, होरी खेलूं श्याम तोरे संग रे

श्याम रंग भरी पिचकारी तान मोहे मारी, भिजोय मोरी सारी

कि जिया हर्षाय रहा रे More...

दृढ़ इन चरनन केरो भरोसो, दृढ़ इन चरनन केरो

श्री वल्लभ नख चन्द्र छटा बिन, सब जग मांझ अंधेरो

साधन और नहीं या कलि में, जासो होत निबेरो

सूर कहा कहे दुविध आंधरो, बिना मोल को चेरो

Surdas wrote this bhajan in Braj bhasha for his Guru, Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya. Surdas was a blind poet and musician, one of the Asht sakhas of Sri Govardhan Nath ji (now at Nathdwara, near Udaipur) who was at Govardhan hill (near Vrindavan) during Surdas’s lifetime. Suradas breathed his last in Braj. This song speaks of his faith in the Guru and his teachings.

Khanjan Nayan is a beautiful biography of Surdas by Amrit Lal Nagar, a famous writer from Chowk in Lucknow.

A bhajan video: Surdas