Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The one who criticizes me is really my friend.
I keep them warmly in my thoughts.
In a strange way, they are watching my every step so closely that they keep me honest — and by caring that much about me, they help me live well.
Kabir pushes the riddle further with a wink. The critic pays such close attention to your faults that they become, in effect, an unpaid guardian of your character. "The slanderer wishes me long life" is Kabir's mischievous logic: someone that invested in you is, oddly, wishing you around for a long time. Underneath the humor is a real teaching — an evenhanded, non-retaliating heart. Kabir refuses to hate the person who dislikes him. That refusal is the freedom.
How does it change things to imagine someone's criticism as attention rather than an attack?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI