Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Honor, dishonor — I no longer feel the sting of either, because I know they are only coverings. And every covering eventually slips: what a person truly is always shows in the end. So why not be real from the start?
Pat apat taa kee nahee laaj — Kabir is unshaken by praise or blame (the sahaj, the poise that outer events cannot rock). The image ughraigo paaj — "the false covering will be laid bare" — is not a threat of punishment but a truth about reality: pretense wears thin, the real shows through. The teaching lands as an invitation to authenticity (sach, being real), not a warning of shame.
What is the difference between how you sometimes want to appear and who you actually are — and which one lasts?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI