Turn to the One and Old Enemies Look Like Friends

ਗਉੜੀ ਕਬੀਰ ਜੀ ਤਿਪਦੇ ਚਾਰਤੁਕੇ ॥

ga-orhee kabeer jee tipday chaartukay.

Gauree, Kabir Jee, Ti-Padas And Chau-Tukas:

ਜਮ ਤੇ ਉਲਟਿ ਭਏ ਹੈ ਰਾਮ ॥

jam tay ulat bha-ay hai raam.

I have turned away from death and turned to the Lord.

ਦੁਖ ਬਿਨਸੇ ਸੁਖ ਕੀਓ ਬਿਸਰਾਮ ॥

dukh binsay sukh kee-o bisraam.

Pain has been eliminated, and I dwell in peac and comfort.

ਬੈਰੀ ਉਲਟਿ ਭਏ ਹੈ ਮੀਤਾ ॥

bairee ulat bha-ay hai meetaa.

My enemies have been transformed into friends.

ਸਾਕਤ ਉਲਟਿ ਸੁਜਨ ਭਏ ਚੀਤਾ ॥੧॥

saakat ulat sujan bha-ay cheetaa. ||1||

The faithless cynics have been transformed into good-hearted people. ||1||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

Everything has turned around inside me. I no longer fear the end; I have turned toward the Beloved. My aches have melted into calm. People who felt like enemies now feel like friends, and hard, closed-off hearts have opened into warmth.

When your heart turns toward the One, even old enemies begin to look like friends.

The deeper layer

This is Kabir's great ulat (turning-around) shabad. When the mind turns toward the One, the whole inner world reverses: fear becomes peace, enemies become friends, cynics soften. Saakat (a heart hardened against the One) is rendered gently as "closed-off hearts" — describing a state, not condemning people (interfaith/evenhandedness). The change is inner: the world looks different because he is different.

A Question to Sit With

Has a change inside you ever made someone difficult suddenly seem less like an enemy?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

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