Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I am a cobbler, and here is the joke of it: I no longer know how to mend shoes.
Still the people keep coming, bringing their worn soles for me to stitch and patch.
This is the Rahao, the "pause" line and the center of the shabad. Ravidas makes a joke about his own job, with a deeper meaning inside.
He says: I am a shoemaker, but I don't know how to mend. Log gathaavai panhee — still, people bring me their shoes to fix.
Ravidas really was a leatherworker. In his day, many people looked down on that work. But he names his trade with pride and uses it to teach. Here is the double meaning. A shoemaker ties knots and stitches. Ravidas has stopped tying the little knots of worry and worldly patching, because his heart is busy with the One. It's like being so happy talking with your best friend that you forget to check your phone.
What is a job people might look down on that is actually honest and good?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI