ਮੇਰੀ ਜਾਤਿ ਕਮੀਨੀ ਪਾਂਤਿ ਕਮੀਨੀ ਓਛਾ ਜਨਮੁ ਹਮਾਰਾ ॥
mayree jaat kameenee paaNt kameenee ochhaa janam hamaaraa.
My social status is low, my ancestry is low, and my life is wretched.
ਤੁਮ ਸਰਨਾਗਤਿ ਰਾਜਾ ਰਾਮ ਚੰਦ ਕਹਿ ਰਵਿਦਾਸ ਚਮਾਰਾ ॥੫॥੬॥
tum sarnaagat raajaa raam chand kahi ravidaas chamaaraa. ||5||6||
I have come to Your Sanctuary, O Luminous Lord, my King; so says Ravi Daas, the shoemaker. ||5||6||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The world ranks my birth and my family as lowly, and calls my life small.
Yet I have come into Your shelter, O luminous Beloved, my King, and there I stand equal and safe, so says Ravidas, the shoemaker.
No one the world looks down on is small in the shelter of the One.
Ravidas names his low social rank not with shame but as a banner of dignity: in the shelter (sarnaagat) of the One, the world's rankings dissolve entirely. He signs himself proudly as chamaar (shoemaker), turning a label meant to belittle into a statement that the Beloved welcomes all as equals. This caste-leveling is the beating heart of Ravidas's bani.
A Question to Sit With
How would the world change if everyone were seen as equally worthy of love?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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