Salok Bhagat Kabir, Salok 53 — the deer and the green pool
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Kabir says: the deer is thin and weak, and the pool is green and lush.
A hundred thousand hunters chase one small life. How long can it keep escaping death?
One small life cannot keep slipping past death forever.
Kabir pictures a harnaa, a deer, that is dooblaa, thin and weak, beside a haree-aaraa taal, a green, tempting pool. The deer is the soul; the green pool is the world full of things it wants.
Laakh ahayree ayk jee-o: a hundred thousand hunters, one life. Kaytaa bancha-o kaal, how long can it dodge death? The hunters are the many pulls and dangers around every life, and time itself.
Think of a game of tag where everyone else is "it." Sooner or later, you get tagged. Kabir's question invites us to remember the One while there is time.
What would you want to do with your time, knowing it will not last forever?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI