Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When "I" was loud and in charge, I could not feel You. Now that You fill everything, the noisy little "I" has quietly stepped aside.
And now You and I are not two things at all — we have become one. Seeing this, my mind is finally at peace.
Kabir says that when the loud "I" goes quiet, you see you were never separate from the One.
Jab ham hotay tab tum naahee — when "I" was there, You were not. Ab tum hahu ham naahee — now You are here, and "I" am not. Kabir is describing haumai melting away. Haumai is the feeling of being a separate self, the "me" that stands apart from everything.
Kabir is not destroyed. What melts is the false idea that he is separate. Think of a wave on the ocean. For a moment it may think of itself as its own thing. But it was always water, always part of the sea.
"When I was, You were not" does not mean the One disappeared. It means the loud sense of "me" blocked the view. When that quiets, what was always true can be seen: ab ham tum ayk bha-ay — now You and I have become one.
Man patee-aahee — the mind is content. That peace does not come from getting anything new. It comes from seeing what was always there.
When are you most at peace — when you are trying to be someone, or when you forget yourself completely?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI