Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The oldest holy books, the long sacred stories, even the beings people call the keeper of riches and fortune herself — none of them hold all of You either.
The books point toward You like a finger pointing at the moon. They are beautiful. But You are the moon, not the finger.
Holy books point toward the One, and the One is bigger than any book.
Chaar bayd ar simrit puraanaa: the four Vedas, the Simritees and the Puraanas are holy books of the Hindu tradition. Kamlaapat kavlaa nahee jaanaa: even Vishnu and his wife Lakshmi do not fully know the One. Kabir names them all with respect.
Still, he places the living One beyond them. A map of a mountain is useful, but it is not the mountain. Kabir's warning is about hollow habit, about mistaking the words for what they point to. It is never a warning against any tradition.
What's the difference between reading about something and knowing it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI