ਰੇ ਮਹਾਵਤ ਤੁਝੁ ਡਾਰਉ ਕਾਟਿ ॥
ray mahaavat tujh daara-o kaat.
He yelled out, “O driver, I shall cut you into pieces.
ਇਸਹਿ ਤੁਰਾਵਹੁ ਘਾਲਹੁ ਸਾਟਿ ॥
iseh turaavahu ghaalhu saat.
Hit him, and drive him on!“
ਹਸਤਿ ਨ ਤੋਰੈ ਧਰੈ ਧਿਆਨੁ ॥
hasat na torai Dharai Dhi-aan.
But the elephant did not move; instead, he began to meditate.
ਵਾ ਕੈ ਰਿਦੈ ਬਸੈ ਭਗਵਾਨੁ ॥੨॥
vaa kai ridai basai bhagvaan. ||2||
The Lord God abides within his mind. ||2||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
They threatened the driver and screamed at him to force the elephant forward.
But the great animal stood still and grew calm, as if it too had turned its whole heart toward the One living within.
The gentlest heart in the room saw what the powerful could not.
Vaa kai ridai basai bhagvaan — the One dwells in his heart. The elephant, far from raging, dharai dhi-aan — settles into a kind of meditation. The image is quietly radical: a creature everyone thought was a weapon becomes the gentlest one in the story, because it senses the sacred where the powerful men could not.
A Question to Sit With
Have you ever seen someone the world called 'less than' behave more wisely than those in charge?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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