Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Some people gather up huge piles of money, more than they could ever use.
But in the end, the clay pitcher of the body simply empties and is set down. What we stored up we don't take with us.
The "pitcher bursting" is the body's natural end — rendered here gently as a pitcher emptying and set down, keeping the truth without the fright. Kabir's point is the timeless one: you can pile up a fortune, but you carry none of it across the last threshold. This isn't gloom; it's clarity about what to actually invest in — the wealth "no thief can reach" from the neighboring shabads. Store up what you can keep: love, and the Name.
If you couldn't keep any of your stuff forever, what would you most want to have given away or shared?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI