Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Imagine a tree growing with its branches down low and its roots up in the air —
and still bearing fruit and flowers!
This one says a good life is a tree with its roots up high.
Kabir paints a tree with its branches below and its roots above. And still it bears fruit and flowers. This is a very old spiritual picture in India, the upside-down tree. Its roots are in the heavens, and its branches reach down into the world.
It says something deep and lovely. A truly rooted life draws its food from above, from the One, from what is highest. And because of that, it grows and bears fruit down here in everyday life.
Think of a plant in a hanging basket on the porch. Its roots are up high, yet it spills flowers down below. Your roots are in the sky, in love, in the One. The fruit shows up in your ordinary days, in kindness and good work. Rooted above, fruitful below: that is a well-lived life.
If your 'roots' drew from the best and highest things, what 'fruit' would grow in your daily life?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI