Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When someone passes, their family weeps and grieves, holding each other close.
And the soul — like a swan taking flight — travels on, on a journey it makes alone.
Kabir describes a scene of grief with real tenderness: the mother weeping at the threshold, the family gathered in sorrow, the wife's cry. He doesn't hide that death brings deep grief — the love and the loss are honored, not brushed aside. And then the gentle image of the soul's passing: the swan-soul departs — 'swan' being the old, graceful image for the pure soul, which takes flight and goes on. Even surrounded by loving people, the soul makes its final journey alone — which is why, all through the shabad, Kabir urges us to befriend the One now, so that on that solo flight the heart is not truly alone but companioned by the love it has kept. Grief is real; and so is the One who goes with the soul.
It's okay to feel sad about losing someone. What might comfort a heart in a time of grief?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI