Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Sometimes a person speaks all the right, wise-sounding words, while inside their heart is doing something quite different.
But what is the use of that? It is like standing there churning plain water and expecting butter to appear. Nothing real comes of it.
This one says: wise words don't mean much if the heart doesn't mean them.
Hirdai kapat mukh gi-aanee: trickery in the heart, wise words in the mouth. Kabir's test is simple. Is a person honest on the inside?
Jhoothay kahaa bilovas paanee: why are you churning water? To make butter, you churn milk. Churn plain water all day, and no butter will ever come. In the same way, words the heart doesn't mean can't make anything true. Kabir uses the churning picture in another shabad too. Here he turns it into a warning.
Is it possible to say all the right things and still not really mean them? What gives it away?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI