Salok Bhagat Kabir, Salok 37 — bones wrapped in skin

ਕਬੀਰ ਗਰਬੁ ਨ ਕੀਜੀਐ ਚਾਮ ਲਪੇਟੇ ਹਾਡ ॥

kabeer garab na keejee-ai chaam lapaytay haad.

Kabir, do not be so proud of your bones wrapped up in skin.

ਹੈਵਰ ਊਪਰਿ ਛਤ੍ਰ ਤਰ ਤੇ ਫੁਨਿ ਧਰਨੀ ਗਾਡ ॥੩੭॥

haivar oopar chhatar tar tay fun Dharnee gaad. ||37||

Those who were on their horses and under their canopies, were eventually buried under the ground. ||37||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

Kabir says: do not be proud of this body, which is only bones wrapped in skin.

Even those who rode on fine horses under royal umbrellas were in the end buried in the ground.

Bones wrapped in skin give no reason for pride.

The deeper layer

The body is bones wrapped in skin, so there is nothing in it to be proud of.

Garab na keejee-ai, do not be proud, begins a short run of Kabir's saloks about pride. Here the pride is in the body, chaam lapaytay haad, bones wrapped in skin.

Kings rode on haivar, the finest horses, with a chhatar, a royal umbrella, held over them. They too were dharnee gaad, buried in the earth. Every body ends the same way.

Think of a sandcastle with a flag on top. However grand, the tide reaches it too.

A Question to Sit With

Why is it unwise to feel better than others because of how you look?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

← Verse 94 of 450 Salok Bhagat Kabir, Salok 36 — seeing how it ends

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