Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Honestly? I don't even know where this faraway paradise is supposed to be — and yet everyone insists that's where they're headed. Maybe the real question isn't how to get *there* but how to live rightly, right *here*.
Kabir honestly admits he does not know where heaven is, and turns us back to living well right here.
This is the Rahao, the "pause" line. It is the center of the whole shabad.
Naa jaanaa baikunth kahaa hee — I do not know where heaven is. Jaan jaan sabh kaheh tahaa hee — yet everyone says they are going there. Kabir's honesty is disarming. It is like a friend who admits, "I don't know the answer either," and suddenly everyone relaxes.
He gently moves our attention from a faraway reward to the present. The last verse will finish the thought. Heaven is not a distant place to claim. It is a way of living that is open to us now. Kabir keeps the wonder, and he does not make fun of anyone's longing.
Do you think a good life is something you reach later, or something you can start building today?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI