Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Friday: keep the good, kind actions going — that is the fast worth keeping.
Day and night, the real work is gently wrestling with your own smaller self — the grabbing, sulking, prideful part — and choosing better.
Keep your five senses awake and well-guided, brightly in hand, and then your gaze won't go wandering off toward anything but the One. You stay steady and single-hearted.
sukrit (Friday — here tied to sukrit = good deeds): sahaarai so ih barat charhai — the one who upholds good actions — that is the barat (fast) truly kept. This is Kabir’s redefinition of fasting, exactly parallel to the thitee’s Ekadashi move: the real fast is not skipping food but doing good and mastering oneself. an-din aap aap si-o larhai — day and night, “fight” your own small self — rendered as the gentle inner wrestling of choosing better, not violence. surkhee paancha-o raakhai sabai — keep all five (senses) surkhee — bright, in good order. ta-o doojee darisat na paisai kabai — then the doojee darisat (the “second glance,” the divided/distracted gaze) never falls — you stay single-hearted on the One.
What's a small, good habit you could 'keep up' every day, the way some people keep a fast?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI