Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
By the world's measures, my birth and background count as low and unimportant.
And I haven't done much to earn anything — I'm just a humble cobbler, says Ravi Daas.
Ravi Daas ends by telling the plain truth about himself. And the story of his words shows how the One sees people.
Jaatee ochhaa paatee ochhaa ochhaa janam hamaaraa — my social group is low, my family line is low, my birth is low. Jaatee means caste, the social group a person is born into. In Ravi Daas's time, society ranked people by birth. He was a cobbler, a worker in leather, and people from his group were unfairly looked down on. He also says he has not done great service for the One. He hides nothing and claims no special credit.
And yet this same man's words became holy scripture, sung for centuries. The one who called himself "low" is honored as one of the great saints. This is the message of all the Bhagats, the saint-poets whose hymns sit in the Guru Granth Sahib, and Ravi Daas lives it in one person: the One lifts up exactly those the world looks down on.
Think of a school that handed out prizes by family name. It would be unfair, and it would miss the best people. The One never ranks anyone by birth. The world's rankings mean nothing. The heart means everything.
What does it tell you that a poor cobbler who called himself 'low' is honored as one of the greatest saints?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI