Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I go to everyone whose heart is awake and ask for just one thing — only one. I make my request softly, having set down all my pride first. I would give myself away, a hundred thousand times over, and still I am only asking for this: let me have the dust from under the feet of the holy ones. That is all I want.
This Rahao establishes the whole shabad's posture: asking for one thing, having let go of pride. Sagal santan peh vasat ik maangau — "from all the santan (saints, awakened ones) I beg for one vasat (thing, merchandise)." Of all that could be wanted, the seeker narrows desire to a single item. And before she can even ask, a condition must be met: karau binantee maan tiaagau — "I make my binantee (humble request) having given up (tiaag) my maan (pride)." You cannot ask for this particular thing with pride intact; the very asking requires the ego to step down first.
What is the one thing she wants? Dehu santan kee dhooraa — "give me the dhooraa (dust) of the saints[' feet]." This is the same humble request we saw in Shabad 12 (khaak santan kee). To want the dust beneath the feet of the awakened is to want the lowest possible position — to be that which is walked upon, beneath even the holy. In the world's terms it is the opposite of ambition. In the spirit's terms it is the highest aspiration, because it is the complete surrender of haumai.
The intensity is striking: vaar vaar jaaee lakh vareeaa — "I am a sacrifice, over and over, a hundred thousand times." This whole flood of self-offering is poured out just to be allowed to be the dust. It seems paradoxical — such fervor for such lowliness — but that is the point. The ego's instinct is to climb, to be elevated, to be seen. The seeker has discovered that the way up is down: that the deepest fulfillment is found not in being raised above others but in being humbled to the dust of those whose company raises her. The Rahao plants the shabad's whole movement: pride set down, one humble thing begged for, the self gladly offered to become small.
The seeker pours out everything just to be "the dust of the saints' feet." Why might wanting to be small and humble actually take more courage than wanting to be great?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI