Kabir makes this prayer on behalf of the struggling devotees who try to transcend the world and its lures, but feel they are unable to do so. A bird's enjoyment of flying in the skies is cut short by the bird itself because of its own attachment to its nest on earth. The elephant, lured by the dummy of a she-elephant, falls into the pit prepared to trap it. The musk deer has the musk in its own navel, but overcome by the fragrance runs about in the forest searching for it. Similarly, the five passions and sense pleasures keep man trapped and entangled in the outside world. Man has to face death again and again, and after each death he has to suffer according to his actions at the hands of the yamdoots or messengers of death. Kabir points out that detaching oneself from mundane attractions and taking refuge in the Lord is the only way out of this dilemma.

Beloved Lord, such has become my plight,
I cannot overcome the world's lures.

I am like the bird that soars high in the skies
But whose longings force it back to earth;
Its hopes and desires do not end,
The bonds that imprison it do not break:
How can its attempts to fly free succeed?

All the efforts I make to gain bliss
Only add to my misery.
My plight, my suffering,
I have no words to convey;
I cannot overcome, O Lord,
The world's manifold lures.

Like the elephant,
Through my own folly I land in the trap;
Like the musk deer,
Through my own infatuations I go astray.
I cannot overcome, O Lord,
The world's manifold lures.

Says Kabir: I am helpless,
I have no strength to resist
The spate of earthy desires.
Almighty Lord, pray heed my suflfering:
Here I dread this world,
And I shudder in terror
At the thought of the messengers of death.
Lord, I have taken Thy refuge,
For of myself I cannot be free
From this world's endless misery.

K.G., p. 133:266
Rāmrāi so gati bhai hamāri