Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
All around grow thick, sweet-smelling bushes, and there in the heart of the forest the Beloved is singing with pure joy.
One who caught sight of that beauty was completely enchanted, and pleaded: "Please stay with me — don't come and go, just stay!"
When real beauty catches your heart, all you want to say is: please stay.
Kabir paints a well-loved scene from Hindu devotion. It is the forest of Brindaaban, where Krishna plays his flute. Sweet basil, tursee, grows thick all around. A gopi, a milk-maid, sees him and is swept up in wonder. U-aa kaa saroop daykh mohee gu-aaran — seeing his beauty, the milk-maid was entranced.
Kabir uses this picture warmly and with respect. For him, the beauty of Krishna is a doorway to the one beautiful Reality behind every lovely form.
Her plea is mo ka-o chhod na aa-o na jaahoo — don't leave me; don't come and go. That is the soul asking the One to stay close always, and never to feel far away again. It is like a child at bedtime saying, "Stay just a little longer."
What's something so beautiful you wished the moment would never end?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI