Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Picture a hunter's decoy — a fake elephant made of straw, set out to trick a wild one. The great show of the world can pull you in just like that, mind of mine, restless mind.
The wild elephant runs toward what it wants, and suddenly the rope is around its neck. Wanting something so badly you stop thinking clearly — that is how anyone gets caught.
Kabir opens a string of trap-images. The "straw female elephant" is a classic hunter's decoy: the bull elephant charges toward what it craves and falls into the pit. Kabir addresses his own man ba-uraa — "restless mind" (literally "crazy mind," softened here to a gentle, affectionate self-address rather than an insult). The point is not shame but recognition: craving narrows our vision, and the world's dazzle is designed to hook exactly that craving. The "Lord of the Universe has staged the drama" means the whole play of appearances is part of the One's design — not a trick to fear, but a stage to see through.
Can you think of a time when wanting something so much made it hard to think clearly?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI