तीरथ तों सब बेलड़ी, सब जग मेल्या छाइ I कबीर मूल निकंदिया, कोण हलाहल खाइ II
In this doha Kabeer highlights the futility of visiting pilgrimages and bathing therein.
"A disciple of Kabir asked his permission for visiting pilgrim places and taking ritual bath in their so-called holy rivers and ponds. Kabir gave his disciple a gourd and asked: “Please bathe this gourd wherever you bathe”. The disciple did exactly that — wherever he bathed in the so-called holy waters of Teerath places, he also bathed the gourd. Upon his returning from the pilgrimage, he gave the gourd back to Kabir. In turn, Kabir handed it over to the cook in charge of the kitchen with the instructions to cook the gourd and serve it with the next meal to all devotees. So he did. However, as we know that the gourd is poisonously bitter, no one could eat it. Kabir wanted to make the point to his deluded and immature student that, as the gourd did not shed its bitterness by bathing at all of the so-called holy places, similarly, the mental filth cannot be washed off by any type of external ablution."
"Kabir says, the poisonous vine of ritualistic worship such as visiting pilgrimages has a vice like grip on the minds of people since time immemorial. All Teerath and pilgrimage are within only if we were to understand it."
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