This poem, addressed to the lotus flower, is a figurative reference to the condition of man in this world. He is miserable and restless, always searching for peace and happiness. Kabir says, just as the lotus flower germinates, grows and lives in water, man's origin is the Lord and the Lord is ever with him. The soul is a particle of God; He is the source from which it has come. At the source there is no pain or misery, and even in the world there should be no cause of anguish for the soul, for the Lord is always with it. But, like the lotus flower that withers in spite of being in water, man suffers misery although the Lord is within him. Man has turned away from the Lord and has attached himself to the passions and transient pleasures of the world, like the lotus flower which, having forgotten its source of life and existence, has attached itself to the blazing sun. If he were to become cool and calm like his source, if he were to merge in Him, he would escape from the miseries of the world, from the cycle of birth and death.

Why are you withered,
Why sad, O lotus,
When the lake of fresh water,
The source of your life,
Is ever with you?

Born in water,
In water you thrived,
And water itself is your home.
Why are you sad, O lotus?

There is no fire at your roots,
No blaze at your head;
Tell me to whom, O lotus,
Have you given your heart
That you are burning with agony?

Those who, like water,
Become cool and tranquil,
Who merge themselves in water,
They, O Kabir, never wither or die.

K.G., p. 84:64
Kāhe re nalini tu kumilāni