Gyani bhulai gyan
kathi nikat nij roop
Bahir khojay bapurai,
bhitar vastu anoop.

A so called wise is lost in describing his wisdom, the God is near to him
But he is searching Him outside when inside him is the matter most excellent.

Kabir says the majority of people waste their lives trying to change the periphery. They stake their all in to bring about a change in their behavior and their conduct, but even if these are altered nothing else changes along with them. However much you may modify your conduct, you will remain what your were: if you were a thief you will become a good man, if you were amassing wealth you will start giving to charity, but the you within will remain the same. For you the value of money will not change. Money had a certain value for you when you were a thief, and it will remain the same when you become a philanthropist. You certainly don’t regard it is dust, for who makes a gift of dust?

Prayer does not depend on what you say; it depends, rather, on what you are. Worship depends not on what you do but what you are. Religion is involved not with your actions but with you existence. If love is at the center of your being there will be prayer at your periphery. If there is perpetual peace at your center there will be meditation at the periphery. If there is awareness at the center your life itself becomes an act of self-purification, but the reverse is not the case.

By bringing about a change at the circumference you cannot change the center, but a change at the center automatically brings about a change at the circumference, because the circumference is simply the shadow of the center. By changing the shadow you cannot change yourself the shadow changes accordingly.

An inner transformation is necessary and not a change in the pattern of your behavior. As soon as there is an inner change, everything changes with it.