Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Think of a family whose child never makes room for wisdom, and never stops to think deeply.
What a loss that would be! That life would miss the very thing that makes it shine.
Kabir is saying that a life with no room for wisdom is missing what makes it worth living.
His words here are very sharp. He asks a harsh question about a mother's loss, and he means it to sting. This was one of Kabir's favorite ways to teach. People call it ulat-baasee, upside-down speech: a shock, like an alarm clock going off, to wake the listener up.
So hear it as an alarm, not a curse. Under the loud ring is a quiet question for each of us. Gi-aan beechaaree means thinking deeply about what is true. Am I making room for that? A life that leaves no space for it is missing the very thing that makes it shine.
What is a kind of wisdom you would not want to grow up without?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI