ਅਮਰ ਜਾਨਿ ਸੰਚੀ ਇਹ ਕਾਇਆ ਇਹ ਮਿਥਿਆ ਕਾਚੀ ਗਗਰੀ ॥
amar jaan sanchee ih kaa-i-aa ih mithi-aa kaachee gagree.
Believing this body to be immortal, I pampered it, but it is a fragile and perishable vessel.
ਜਿਨਹਿ ਨਿਵਾਜਿ ਸਾਜਿ ਹਮ ਕੀਏ ਤਿਸਹਿ ਬਿਸਾਰਿ ਅਵਰ ਲਗਰੀ ॥੧॥
jineh nivaaj saaj ham kee-ay tiseh bisaar avar lagree. ||1||
Forgetting the Lord who formed, fashioned and embellished me, I have become attached to another. ||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I used to act like this body would last forever, and I fussed over it endlessly. But it is like a clay pot — precious and fragile.
And in all that fussing, I forgot the One who shaped me in the first place, and chased after other things instead.
Care for the body, but do not forget the One who shaped it.
amar jaan sanchee ih kaa-i-aa — treating the body as immortal. mithi-aa kaachee gagree — the fragile, unbaked clay pot, a favorite Kabir image. jineh nivaaj saaj... tiseh bisaar — forgetting the Maker and attaching elsewhere. Impermanence as an invitation to remember the Source, not as morbid fear.
A Question to Sit With
What is something you take care of well, and what might you be forgetting to care for?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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