Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You say the Beloved was born as this man's son — but then, whose son was that man himself?
And before there was any earth, any sky, any direction at all — where was he then? Someone had to be there before anyone was born.
This is the rahao, the "pause" line. It is the center of the shabad, and it is a riddle.
Kabir loves riddles that flip your thinking upside down to wake you up. This kind is called an ulat-baasee, an upside-down saying. You say Krishna was Nand's son. Nand so nandan kaa ko ray — but whose son was Nand himself?
Kabir asks with real playfulness, and with no disrespect to the story of Krishna. He keeps asking, "And before that?" He pushes back and back. Dharan akaas daso dis naahee tab ih nand kahaa tho ray — when there was no earth, no sky, and none of the ten directions, where was Nand then?
You know this game. It is a child's endless "But who made that?" Kabir turns that question into a doorway. Keep asking, and you reach the One that nothing made, the One before every beginning.
If everything has a "before," what do you think was there before there was anything at all?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI