Kabir says, 'Face It, You're a Liar!': Linda Hess

Описание: “We lie to each other, we lie to ourselves – because we have to keep up the structure of our ego, our whole personality. So Kabir says, ‘Face it, you’re a liar and a violent person. You’re mean and pretentious. The things that you think are noble, are just forms of self-aggrandizement. Face it!” – Linda Hess

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On a beautiful day in Benares in the year 2004, we drifted down the river of Ganga in conversation with Linda Hess. While we talked about death and Kabir, honesty and self-deception, ulatbansi and the Zen path, the sights and sounds of the riverbanks filtered in and out. The dhobhis hard at work washing clothes, morning bathers, grieving mourners, young boys playing cricket... all seemed to become part and parcel of Linda's experience of Kabir.

Dr. Linda Hess is one of the finest scholars and translators of Kabir into the English language who has taught at the Stanford University for several decades. She was drawn to India in the 1960s and has been working on Kabir ever since. Her books include The Bijak of Kabir, considered by many to be one of the best translations of Kabir into English; Singing Emptiness: Kumar Gandharva Performs the Poetry of Kabir and Bodies of Song: Kabir Oral Traditions and Performative Worlds in Northern India, to be published later this year. Contact Linda at [email protected]

Linda has been advisor and invaluable friend to the Kabir Project since 2002, and is featured prominently in one of our films on Kabir called Chalo Hamara Des (Come To My Country). DVDs of the film are available at http://www.amazon.in/dp/B00PJTQN4E. View one episode of this film - Off to Benares - in which this conversation with Linda later got edited at    • 'Off To Benaras' - Episode 08 from the fil...  .

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Ajab Shahar is a digital archive of mystic poetry and music drawing from the rich Bhakti and Sufi oral traditions in India and beyond... Explore a world of sung and spoken wisdom at https://ajabshahar.com

Video Credits:
Interview by: Shabnam Virmani
Camera: Shabnam Virmani
Editing: Sharanya Gautam
Sub-Titles: Nandini Nayar & Mukesh Kulariya
Collection: Kabir Project

Hindi Translation: Shabnam Virmani, Divya Jain & Mukesh Kulariya

Place: Varanasi, India
Year of Recording: July, 2004