Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Why do you live only to please your own mind?
When death comes and takes hold of you, only the Naam will set you free.
Living only to please the mind leads nowhere lasting; the Naam is what frees you.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line. It is the center of the whole song. Kaahay keejat hai man bhaavan asks: why live only to please your own mind?
Kabir paints a strong picture of the end of life. He shows jam, death, grabbing a person by the hair. The meaning inside that picture is gentle. When everything else falls away, har ko naam chhadaavan: the Name of the One is what sets us free.
It is like the one song you still know by heart when everything else is forgotten. The focus is on what stays with us, not on fear.
What is something that stays with you no matter what else changes in your life?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI