Powerful kings, incarnations, gods, men and hermits have all been ruined by the malady of ego. When death comes, they all go empty-handed. They do not realize God nor do they separate their soul from mind — milk mixed with unclean water. The intricate paths of breath control, intellectual analysis, asceticism and penances that they follow cannot take them to their destination. Kabir says such paths are long and arduous and only inflate the ego. Man's allotted life span ends before he can gain any success through these practices. The village of the body is ruined in all ten directions, that is, the ten senses become enfeebled through these rigorous practices and perish along with the body.

Men, deluded by ego, believe they have come to the threshold of emancipation, but fail to see that they have fallen for the bait of worldliness and that the paths they took to gain liberation were like boats made of iron, loaded with stones. When death comes and destroys their physical bodies, their soul sinks into the sea of birth and rebirth.

Harnakus, Ravan and Kans are gone,
Krishna has gone, and so have
All gods, men and hermits gone,
Along with their kin,
Along with their progeny;
Even Brahma has gone
Without realizing
The secret of God.
All those great ones are gone
Who claimed to be wise;
Not one understood
The mystery that the Lord is —
Not one could separate pure milk
From unclean water.
While the path still remained untrod,
Their breaths abandoned them, fatigued,
And their hamlet was ruined
In all ten directions.
The world became for them
Like a net to the fish,
Like a rowboat made of iron
Loaded with stones.
All try to row, and all claim
To know the way to row;
They have sunk midstream
But insist they've reached
The shore of safety.

As an earthworm in the mouth of a fish,
As a lizard between the teeth of a mouse,
As a shrew in the fangs of a snake,
So are all between the jaws of Kal.

Bijak, Ramaini 45
Harnākus rāvan gau kansā