Wisdom through Simple Aphorisms!
Culture 101: Unpacking Local Sayings.
Literal Saying: Fell, fell, leg high (or up).
Even when a person has fallen, they will claim they haven’t because their leg is still up in the air.
Meaning: This saying highlights the foolishness and ego of those who refuse to accept they are wrong or have been proven wrong.
Usage: Describes people who cling stubbornly to their beliefs, despite new facts or evidence proving otherwise. This kind of person will insist they are technically correct or superior because they have not "fully fallen" or admitted defeat. 🙂
Literal Saying: Morning’s Lost Person, If Evening Comes Home, Then They Lost No Longer Are Called!
When a person loses their way in life, atones, and returns, they are no longer considered lost.
Meaning: This popular Hindi saying suggests that if someone makes mistakes, but later atones, and makes amends, they should be forgiven and their past errors forgotten.
Usage: Often used in reference to friends or family members who have taken a wrong path but then realize their mistake and seek to make things right. It emphasizes the importance of acknowledging efforts (and amends) to correct one's course and the value of forgiveness.
Kabir, the Devotional Philosopher-Poet!
Kabir Das a renowned poet-saint, was born in the 1400s in Varanasi, though his exact birth period remains uncertain.
His early life is shrouded in mystery. Kabir is believed to have been born to an unmarried Hindu mother who abandoned him. He was then raised by a Muslim weaver. He is believed to have not subscribed to either faith and instead, wrote of truth as God (or the inner Self).
Kabir composed many pithy maxims in a uniquely Indian two-line couplet style known as 'doha,' often embedding his name within them. His verses speak of life, devotion, and philosophy. He is said to have insisted on the oral transmission of his poems through his disciples, and eschewed written forms.
Note: I wrote of another famous poet with a similar style earlier.
In the first line of a famous verse, he speaks of the craziness of the world he inhabits:
“Saints, I see, the world is mad.
If I tell the truth, they rush to beat me.
If I lie, they trust me.”
Kabir’s common couplets are commonly included in school curricula. They are also frequently quoted by aspiring philosophers.
Below are a couple of selections retold:
Literal Saying: Sorrow, in, all remember God. Happiness in, none do. Happiness in, remember God, then sorrow why would happen?
People remember God only when they are in pain or sorrowful. None remember Him when happy. If they thought of God when they are happy, why then would there be sorrow?
Meaning: Kabir states that people tend to remember God only during times of trouble and not when things are going well. He suggests that if people also remembered God during their happy moments, they might be better able to handle sorrow, if the need even arises.
Usage: This is one of Kabir's most famous and widely known verses. In it, Kabir extols the importance of devotion to the inner Self (or Universal Truth) at all times, not just during adversity, and suggests that doing so helps one better cope with life’s ups and downs.
Literal Saying: Slow, slow, O Mind, slowly everything happens. The gardner irrigates/tills hundred pots of water, season comes, fruit harvests.
Dear mind, be patient, as everything is achieved slowly. Just like the tree that bears fruit only when the right season arrives, despite the gardener watering it a hundred times.
Meaning: Kabir extols patience as a virtue for achieving your dreams, and advises that that your actions will bear fruit at the right time.
Usage: This is a motivational life maxim, reminding people not to give up hope or become impatient with the natural pace of life’s progress.
For further reading, check out ‘The Bijak of Kabir,’ published by the Oxford University Press.
Read more in the wisdom series here. Do you have a favorite poet whose verses you'd like to share?
Absolutely beautiful, Jayshree.
And I would like to add to “the value of forgiveness” the ‘value of a well-meant apology.’
Apologies never make one the lesser human (although it’s felt like that by many), quite the opposite, it shows strength of character to admit one was wrong. Forgiveness should be the natural follow up. They clear the air before an argument gets out of hand.
Just my humble opinion.
Fell, fell, leg high( or up) reminds me of ex president trump. Not able to accept loss.