Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When a holy person, a lover of the One, is born into a family,
high or low, rich or poor, that family's pure fragrance spreads over the whole world.
A holy person makes a whole family fragrant, whatever family it is.
This is the Rahao, the "pause" line at the center of this shabad by Bhagat Ravidas.
Ravidas is one of the bhagats: saints from many backgrounds whose songs the Gurus placed in the Guru Granth Sahib. In his time, society sorted people by varan, or caste, the group you were born into. Some groups were called "high" and some "low." Ravidas came from a family the world looked down on.
Baran abran rank nahee eesur — high or low, rich or poor, it does not matter. When a saaDh, a holy and loving person, is born into a family, bimal baas, a pure fragrance, spreads over the whole world. Think of fresh bread baking. You can't keep the smell in the kitchen; the whole street knows. Worth comes from goodness, never from birth.
How does one kind person seem to make everyone around them a little better?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI