Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I am like stone, like iron, heavy iron and heavy stone. In the boat of the Guru's Sangat, I am carried across.
Kabir the weaver was carried across the same way, in the true Sangat, and the saints came to love him.
No one is too heavy for the Sangat to carry across.
Ham paathar loh: I am like stone, like iron, heavy with old habits. Stone and iron sink in water. Yet the boat of the Sangat — people gathered together to remember the One around the Guru — carries even them across.
The verse names a julaaho, a weaver. This is Kabir, whose work was looked down on in his time. He was carried across in the true Sangat, and the good-hearted loved him. His trade is named on purpose: rank does not matter. The boat carries those society puts low straight across. Think of a bus. It does not ask how heavy your bag is. You just get on.
When you feel stuck and heavy, whose company helps carry you forward?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI