Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
How does a little clay puppet seem to come alive and dance?
It looks and listens, speaks and runs about — as if it were moving all on its own.
Ravi Daas asks a wonder-question: how does a puppet made of clay get up and dance?
This is the Rahao, the "pause" line at the center of the shabad. Maatee ko putraa kaisay nachat hai — how does the clay puppet dance? It looks and listens, it speaks, and it runs around, as if it were alive all on its own.
But a puppet never moves itself. Think of a puppet show. The puppet waves and jumps, but a hand behind the curtain is making every move. Something beyond the puppet makes it dance.
So Ravi Daas turns the question to us. We look and listen and speak and run too. Where does the life inside us come from? We are not the source of our own moving. Like the puppet, we are made alive by something greater: the One's life, moving through us. It is a lovely question to sit with. Who is really making the puppet dance?
What do you think is the 'life' that makes you able to look, listen, speak, and move?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI