Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Let your mind be your Mecca, and let your body be the place you turn to in prayer.
Let the Supreme Guru be the One who speaks to you.
The holiest place can be your own heart.
Bhagat Kabir is speaking to a Muslim listener, and he uses that listener's own holy words. Man kar makaa kiblaa kar dayhee means "make your mind Mecca, and make your body the kiblaa." Mecca is the holiest city in Islam. Kiblaa is the direction Muslims face when they pray. Dayhee is the body.
So the journey turns inward. Think of searching the whole house for your glasses, then finding them on your head. What you are looking for is already with you.
Bolanhaar param gur ayhee means "let the Supreme Guru be the One who speaks." That is the quiet voice of truth inside you. Kabir honors the practice of pilgrimage. He does not mock it. He simply brings it home, into the heart.
If the sacred is right where you are, how might that change an ordinary day?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI