Salok Bhagat Kabir, Salok 50 — don't trade the ocean for puddles
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Kabir says: do not leave the ocean, even if its water tastes very salty.
If you go poking around from puddle to puddle, no one will call you wise.
Stay with the deep ocean, even when it tastes salty.
Samund na chhodee-ai, do not leave the ocean, ja-o at khaaro ho-ay, even when it is very salty. The ocean is the deep path of loving the One. Sometimes it feels hard, the way salt water is hard to drink.
Pokhar pokhar dhoodhtay, searching from pond to pond, bhalo na kahihai ko-ay, no one will call you good or wise. Running from one small, easy thing to the next leaves a person with nothing deep.
Think of learning an instrument. Practice can feel salty some days. Switching to a new instrument every week means never playing any of them well.
When is it worth sticking with something hard instead of switching to something easier?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI