Kabir doha · Be Kind · Level 4
जहाँ दया तहाँ धर्म है, जहाँ लोभ तहाँ पाप।
जहाँ क्रोध तहाँ काल है, जहाँ क्षमा तहाँ आप।
Jahaan daya tahaan dharm hai, jahaan lobh tahaan paap
Jahaan krodh tahaan kaal hai, jahaan kshama tahaan aap
Jahan daya tahan dharm hai means: where there is kindness, there is goodness; where there is greed, there is wrong. Kabir adds that anger brings ruin, while forgiveness brings the divine close. For children, it is a map of four feelings, and where each one leads.
Updated
Meaning in English
Where there is kindness, there is goodness.
Where there is greed, there is trouble.
Where there is anger, things fall apart.
But where there is forgiveness — that's where love lives.
अर्थ (हिंदी में)
जहाँ दया है वहाँ अच्छाई है। जहाँ लालच है वहाँ पाप है। जहाँ गुस्सा है वहाँ बर्बादी है। लेकिन जहाँ माफ़ी है, वहाँ भगवान खुद हैं।
Fatima's classmate has forgotten his tiffin. She has two parathas and a lot of hunger.
She tears one in half and, after a moment, gives him the bigger half.
In the afternoon, when she spills paint on his notebook, he just laughs. "It's fine," he says. "It looks like a sunset now."
Keep it light. Let the child answer in their own words, draw it, or hum the line again.
Try this: Draw four little houses and label them Kindness, Greed, Anger and Forgiveness. Talk about what it feels like to live in each one.
The doha has four matching pairs, which suit four groups. Each group says one "jahaan … tahaan …" line, and everyone says the last one together.
It means: where there is kindness there is goodness, where there is greed there is wrong, where there is anger there is ruin, and where there is forgiveness the divine is present.
Here dharm means goodness, or the right way to live, not a particular religion. Kabir says that kindness itself is the right way.
It is traditionally credited to Kabir, the 15th-century poet-saint and weaver from Varanasi. His dohas were sung and passed on by word of mouth for centuries before they were written down, so small differences in wording are common.