Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The most learned people know every book, every language and every science.
They know sacred sayings and every medicine. Yet even they, with all their knowledge, come to the same ending.
Kabir is saying: you can know everything and still miss the one thing that matters.
Now he turns to the learned. They know the holy books, the stars, and the grammar of many languages. They know tant mantar, sacred formulas and chants, and a-ukhaDh, every kind of medicine. They are the most knowledgeable people alive. And the same line returns: ant ta-oo marnaa — even they will die in the end.
Knowledge, however huge, does not make you the exception. This does not mean learning is bad. Kabir is making a careful point: information alone is not what carries you through. You could be the smartest person in the room, and that is fine. But being smart is not the same as being ready — having the love that meets the ending without fear.
What's something important you can't learn from a book — only by living it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI