Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
It is like a rope in the dark that we jump back from, sure it is a snake, until the light shows what it truly is. Now the secret has been made plain to me.
Or like plain bracelets I once mistook for solid gold, now that I see clearly, I would never say again what I said back then.
A rope in the dark can look like a snake, until the light comes on.
Raaj bhu-i-ang parsang — the story of the rope and the snake. This is an old, well-known picture from India. You walk into a dark room and jump back. There is a snake on the floor! Then someone turns on the light. It was only a rope all along. The world's great show, which fools us like this, is called maya.
Ravidas says, ab kachh maram janaa-i-aa — now the secret has been made clear to me. The mistake was never in the rope. It was only in the dim light.
He gives a second picture too: bracelets he once got wrong, calling them by the wrong name. Now that he sees clearly, he would never say what he said then. When understanding dawns, old fears have nothing left to stand on.
What is a fear you once had that melted the moment you understood things better?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI