Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Some natures are just deeply set — like a bitter tree that stays bitter even watered with nectar.
And that's okay: your job isn't to change everyone, just to keep watering your own roots with good.
Kabir ends with a realistic, unforced image: even if you water a bitter neem tree with sweet nectar, its bitter nature doesn't change. Some natures are deeply set, and no amount of your effort will change them — and Kabir states this without anger, simply as a fact of life. The freeing lesson for a child is one of release: you are not responsible for changing everyone. Some hearts stay as they are, for now, and that's not your failure. What you are responsible for is your own roots — keeping your heart watered with goodness and good company, so you grow sweet. Let the neem be the neem; tend your own tree. (And remember the earlier verse: what you can't change, grace still can, in its own time.)
What's the difference between trying to change everyone and simply tending your own heart well?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI