Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
If just being in water made you good, the frog would be the best of all! It sits in water all day.
One who trusts in water is like that frog. He is born again and again.
This one uses a funny picture: if water made you holy, the frog would be the holiest of all.
jal kai majan jay gat hovai — if bathing in water could set you free, nit nit mayduk naaveh — well, the frog bathes all day, every day! So the frog would be the most holy creature around.
Of course it isn't. Being wet is not the same as being good. Kabir uses a joke to show that an outside act cannot take the place of goodness inside.
The verse adds that a person who trusts only in water is like that frog. They keep coming back into the world again and again. All that bathing, and no wiser. What changes a heart is love, not water.
Why is this frog example such a funny and clever way to make Kabir's point?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI