Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Look at how a water-carrier lowers a rope into a well to draw up water, day after day — until one day the rope simply comes loose, and she sets down her work and moves on.
Our breath is a little like that rope, drawing life up from a deep well. It is a gift for a while, and one day it is gently returned.
The source uses the well, the rope of breath (laaj), and the pitcher of the body — a classic image for the end of a life. We render it gently and without fear: the water-carrier simply "sets down her work and moves on." The point is not dread of death but tenderness toward the borrowed gift of breath, drawn up like water for a while and then quietly given back.
Does thinking of your breath as a gift change how you notice it right now?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI