Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
**Jh** — it's easy to get tangled up in the world and not know how to get free — like a knot you can't quite undo.
And picking fights won't cut it loose. Trying to win arguments, proving you're right and everyone else is wrong — that just ties more knots. Stir up a quarrel and all you get back is more quarrel. The way out isn't shouting louder; it's letting go of the need to win.
The letter Jhajha. Urajh surajh nahee jaanaa — entangled, not knowing how to untangle. Kabir then names a specific trap he clearly knew well: argumentation. Jhagar kee-ay jhagara-o hee paavaa — “make a quarrel and you only harvest more quarrel.” The person who “talks nonsense trying to convince others” (jhakh jhakh a-uran samjhaavaa) mistakes winning debates for wisdom. Kabir, a famous plain-speaker who dismantled pretension, still warns against combative cleverness: it's another knot, not the knife that cuts knots. Handle the “not approved” line (naahee parvaanaa) softly — the point is that quarreling doesn't bring you closer, not condemnation.
Have you ever tried to win an argument and ended up feeling worse, not better? What might have worked instead?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI