What benefit is washing and bathing if the mind remains soiled? The fish always resides in water, and its scent never leaves.

This couplet questions the superficiality of physical cleansing if the mind remains tainted. Kabir uses the metaphor of the fish living perpetually in water, suggesting that true purity is inherent and cannot be washed away by external efforts. He emphasizes that genuine spiritual cleansing must happen within the heart, not just on the body.