Kabir doha · Stay Humble · Level 2
तिनका कबहुँ न निंदिए, जो पाँव तले होय।
कबहुँ उड़ आँखिन परे, पीर घनेरी होय।
Tinka kabahu na nindiye, jo paanv tale hoy
Kabahu ud aankhin pare, peer ghaneri hoy
Tinka kabahu na nindiye means: never look down on a tiny straw lying under your feet. One day the wind can lift it into your eye, and it will hurt a lot. Kabir's point is that nobody is too small to matter. For children, it is a memorable picture for respecting everyone, including the youngest and the quietest.
Updated
Meaning in English
Never look down on a tiny straw
lying under your feet.
One day it could fly into your eye
and really, really hurt.
अर्थ (हिंदी में)
कभी किसी छोटे को मत तुच्छ समझो। आज तिनका पैरों के नीचे है, कल उड़कर आँख में चला जाए तो बहुत दर्द होता है। हर किसी का सम्मान करो।
In the playground, the older children never let Om join their game. "You're too small," they say.
One day their ball rolls under the heavy bench, into a gap only a very small hand can reach.
Om lies on his tummy, stretches, and rolls it out. From then on, there is always a place for him in the game.
Keep it light. Let the child answer in their own words, draw it, or hum the line again.
Try this: At dinner, go round the table and let the youngest person speak first. Notice what they add that others might have missed.
Give each child a real straw or a leaf. They hold it low for the first line and let it "fly" up towards the eye on "kabahu ud aankhin pare".
It means: never belittle even a blade of straw under your feet, because if it flies into your eye it causes great pain. No one is too small to matter.
It means the pain is great. Peer is pain and ghaneri means a lot. A tiny straw in the eye can hurt very much.
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.