Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
It owns no house and has renounced none. It is neither a king nor a beggar.
It belongs to no caste, no class, no rank the world hands out. All those dividing lines just fall away in front of it.
Kabir says that no rank, caste or job can measure what a person truly is.
He lists the boxes people get sorted into. Naa ih girhee naa odaasee — it is not a girhee, a householder with a family, and not an odaasee, someone who has left the world behind. It is not a king, and not a beggar. It has no body and no drop of blood. Naa ih barahman naa ih khaatee — it is not a Brahmin, from the priest group, and not a Kshatriya, from the warrior group. Back then, people were ranked by the family group they were born into. That is called caste.
If the self inside fits none of these boxes, then no box can ever measure a person's worth. Think of a school where everyone is sorted by the color of their backpack. Take the backpacks away, and every student is simply a student. Kabir folds this equal-for-everyone vision quietly into a verse about the self.
Why do you think people are so eager to sort each other into ranks and boxes?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI