Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is a state so deep that the ordinary building-blocks of the world seem to fall away.
There is no counting of breaths, no busy machinery of the body, nothing to keep track of.
In that stillness, all the little faults and worries simply have nowhere left to stand.
Kabir describes a stillness so deep that worries and faults have nowhere left to stand.
He borrows words from yoga, the Indian practice of body and breath. Panch tat are the five elements, the building blocks of the world: earth, water, fire, air and sky. Irhaa, pingulaa, sukhman are the names yogis give to three paths the breath is said to travel through the body.
Kabir says that in this deep place, none of that is there anymore. Jah kachh ahaa tahaa kichh naahee — where something was, now there is nothing. There are no breaths left to count.
His point is not the technique. It is that in the deepest stillness, all the machinery of the striving self goes quiet. Then ay avgan kat jaahee — where do these faults go? The avgan, our faults and failings, find nowhere to stay.
Think of a snow globe after you stop shaking it. All the swirling flakes settle, and the water turns clear.
What is the quietest, most peaceful state you have ever felt inside? What fell away there?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI