The upside-down riddles, round two — the lion herding cows, the inverted tree — pointing at the great reversal a waking heart lives.
The Arc
A second ulat-baasi ("upside-down") poem. Impossibilities flip the ordinary order: son born before mother, teacher bowing to student (P0); the frame — listen to this wonderful thing: the lion herds the cows (P1); fish giving birth in a tree, cat carrying a dog (P2); the inverted tree, roots above and branches below, yet bearing fruit (P3); buffalo riding a horse, the load home without the ox (P4). The seal: one who understands this hymn, and chants the Name, understands everything (P5) — the riddles open to love, not cleverness.
Key Vocabulary
Ulat-baasi — upside-down speech: impossibilities pointing at the inner reversals of awakening.
The lion herding cows (P1) — the fierce become gentle; what was predatory turns protective.
The inverted tree (P3) — roots in the heavens, fruit in the world: a life rooted above, fruitful below.
"Understands this hymn... understands everything" (P5) — the key is love (chanting the Name), not solving.
Translation Notes
The riddles. As with B00C975, rendered in a playful, wondering spirit — inviting the child to enjoy and be stretched rather than to "solve." Kabir's own closing line licenses this (love, not cleverness, unlocks them).
The inverted tree (P3). The classic Indian image (the ashvattha with roots above); rendered as a life "rooted above, fruitful below" for accessibility.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The companion to Kabir's other ulat-baasi (B00C975, "the ant ate the mountain"). "The lion herding cows" (fierce turned gentle) rhymes with the reconciliation of opposites in the raag (the five reconciled in the Eternal City B00C927; the rabbit and lion singing together, B00C975). The inverted tree connects to the raag's inward turn and to the "roots vs branches" imagery elsewhere (B00C702, B00C907). "Understanding comes by love, not cleverness" is the raag's constant (B00C934).
For Raag Aasaa
Like his first riddle-poem, this one gives a child the rare gift of wonder and permission not to fully solve. The lion turned shepherd, the tree rooted in the sky, the fish in the branches — they're joyful and strange, and they gently shake loose the certainty that we already know how everything works. What they point to is glorious: a heart that wakes up is turned inside out by love, the fierce in it made gentle, its roots drawn up into the highest things and its fruit — kindness — showing down here in ordinary life. And the key to all of it is not being clever, but loving.
The upside-down riddles, round two — the lion herding cows, the inverted tree — pointing at the great reversal a waking heart lives.
The Arc
A second ulat-baasi ("upside-down") poem. Impossibilities flip the ordinary order: son born before mother, teacher bowing to student (P0); the frame — listen to this wonderful thing: the lion herds the cows (P1); fish giving birth in a tree, cat carrying a dog (P2); the inverted tree, roots above and branches below, yet bearing fruit (P3); buffalo riding a horse, the load home without the ox (P4). The seal: one who understands this hymn, and chants the Name, understands everything (P5) — the riddles open to love, not cleverness.
Key Vocabulary
Translation Notes
Themes and Cross-Connections
The companion to Kabir's other ulat-baasi (B00C975, "the ant ate the mountain"). "The lion herding cows" (fierce turned gentle) rhymes with the reconciliation of opposites in the raag (the five reconciled in the Eternal City B00C927; the rabbit and lion singing together, B00C975). The inverted tree connects to the raag's inward turn and to the "roots vs branches" imagery elsewhere (B00C702, B00C907). "Understanding comes by love, not cleverness" is the raag's constant (B00C934).
For Raag Aasaa
Like his first riddle-poem, this one gives a child the rare gift of wonder and permission not to fully solve. The lion turned shepherd, the tree rooted in the sky, the fish in the branches — they're joyful and strange, and they gently shake loose the certainty that we already know how everything works. What they point to is glorious: a heart that wakes up is turned inside out by love, the fierce in it made gentle, its roots drawn up into the highest things and its fruit — kindness — showing down here in ordinary life. And the key to all of it is not being clever, but loving.
Last updated: 2026-07-05