Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Kabir says: I have ground myself down, again and again, like henna leaves crushed into paste.
O my Beloved, You did not even ask about me. You never once placed me at Your feet.
Henna leaves must be crushed to a paste before they can color the hands and feet, so the image is of total self-offering, the self ground soft and ready. The ache of not yet being placed at the Beloved's feet is longing, not despair, and the very next shalok answers it. A shalok of Bhagat Kabir, the weaver-saint of Banaras, sits here inside Guru Amar Das's Vaar, his longing sung in the same song as the Guru's.
Have you ever given your whole heart before you knew how it would be received?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI