Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The years slip by — childhood, then youth, then the middle years — and it's easy to keep putting off what matters.
Then old age arrives, and suddenly there's a wish that we'd started sooner.
Kabir sketches a whole life passing while the important thing keeps getting postponed: twelve years of childhood, twenty more without much discipline, thirty more without turning to the One — and then old age, and regret. It's a picture nearly everyone recognizes: later, later, I'll get to what matters later — until 'later' runs out. Kabir isn't trying to frighten a child; he's offering a gift of perspective early, so the child doesn't live that way. The kindest time to hear 'don't keep putting off what matters' is when you're young and there's plenty of time to take it to heart. Start now with the things that count — kindness, love, remembering the One — and there'll be no 'I wish I'd started sooner.'
What's something good you could start now, instead of telling yourself 'later'?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI