Even One Who Commanded the Sun Couldn't Command the Lasting
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
He was so mighty that the moon and the sun cooked his food.
Fire itself washed his clothes.
This one says: even a king who seemed to command the sun could not command what lasts.
Kabir piles up pictures of Raavan's huge power, from the old legends. "Chand sooraj jaa kay tapat raso-ee" — the moon and the sun cooked his food. "Baisantar jaa kay kapray Dho-ee" — fire (baisantar) washed his clothes. Even the great forces of nature seemed to work in his house.
Think of someone whose phone controls every light, speaker and door in a giant house. One tap, and everything obeys.
Kabir builds this up on purpose, so the point lands hard. All that power, the most anyone could imagine, still could not buy the one thing that matters. It still ended in dark, empty halls.
The one who could order the sun could not order forever. Power over the whole world is not the same as being joined to what lasts.
If the most powerful person couldn't keep what mattered most, what does that say about chasing power?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI