ਸਲੋਕੁ ॥
salok.
Shalok:
ਕਬੀਰ ਕਸਉਟੀ ਰਾਮ ਕੀ ਝੂਠਾ ਟਿਕੈ ਨ ਕੋਇ ॥
kabeer kasa-utee raam kee jhoothaa tikai na ko-ay.
Kabir, such is the touchstone of the Lord; the false cannot even touch it.
ਰਾਮ ਕਸਉਟੀ ਸੋ ਸਹੈ ਜੋ ਮਰਜੀਵਾ ਹੋਇ ॥੧॥
raam kasa-utee so sahai jo marjeevaa ho-ay. ||1||
He alone passes this test of the Lord, who remains dead while yet alive. ||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Kabir says: this is the One's touchstone, the stone jewelers use to test whether gold is pure. Nothing false can even touch it.
Only the one who is dead while still alive, whose grasping self has gone quiet, can stand the One's test.
Only what is true passes the One's test, and you pass it by letting the grasping self go quiet.
The touchstone is the assayer's stone that reveals real gold; falsehood cannot even make contact. Jeevat maria, dead while alive, means the grasping ego stilled without any loss of life, the jivan-mukta ideal that the next two shaloks unfold in detail.
A second shalok of Kabir begins a small cluster on being dead while yet alive.
A Question to Sit With
What in you would you like to let go quiet?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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