Salok Bhagat Kabir, Salok 47 — the thread that doesn't burn
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Kabir says: the robe of the traveler-soul has caught fire on all four sides.
The cloth of the body has burned to charcoal, but the fire did not touch the thread of the soul.
The body can burn away, and the soul inside it is untouched by the fire.
The pardaysee is a stranger, a traveler far from home: the soul, passing through this world. Its ghaaghrai, its robe, is the body. At the end, chahu dis laagee aag, fire catches it on all four sides.
Khinthaa jal ko-ilaa bha-ee, the cloth burns to charcoal. But taagay aanch na laag, the heat does not reach the thread. The thread that held the cloth together, the soul, comes through the fire whole.
Think of a candle's light passed to a new candle. The old wax is used up, and the flame goes on.
What do you think is the "thread" inside you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI