ਕਿਆ ਅਪਰਾਧੁ ਸੰਤ ਹੈ ਕੀਨ੍ਹ੍ਹਾ ॥
ki-aa apraaDh sant hai keenHaa.
What sin has this Saint committed,
ਬਾਂਧਿ ਪੋਟ ਕੁੰਚਰ ਕਉ ਦੀਨ੍ਹ੍ਹਾ ॥
baaNDh pot kunchar ka-o deenHaa.
that you have made him into a bundle and thrown him before the elephant?
ਕੁੰਚਰੁ ਪੋਟ ਲੈ ਲੈ ਨਮਸਕਾਰੈ ॥
kunchar pot lai lai namaskaarai.
Lifting up the bundle, the elephant bows down before it.
ਬੂਝੀ ਨਹੀ ਕਾਜੀ ਅੰਧਿਆਰੈ ॥੩॥
boojhee nahee kaajee anDhi-aarai. ||3||
The Qazi could not understand it; he was blind. ||3||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
What wrong had been done to deserve this? None at all.
Again and again the elephant lifted its trunk and bowed low. The cruelty in the room simply couldn't see what the elephant saw so clearly.
A hardened heart is blind to what a gentle one sees plainly.
Boojhee nahee kaajee andhi-aarai — the one giving orders 'could not understand; he was in the dark.' The blindness named here is not a religion but a hardened heart — the inability to see the sacred in a helpless person. The elephant, kneeling, becomes the teacher of everyone watching.
A Question to Sit With
What can make a person unable to see kindness or worth in someone right in front of them?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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