Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Ravi Daas — a leather-worker from Banaras — says something that might stop you: 'You are me, and I am You. What is the difference between us?'
He's talking to God. And then he gives two images to explain what he means.
A gold bracelet and the gold it's made from: are they different things? Yes, one is a shape. But they're made of the same stuff — one is in the other.
Water and waves: the wave rises and falls, but it's always been water. Whatever shape it takes, it's still water.
That's how Ravi Daas sees himself and God. Not two separate creatures standing across from each other. The same substance in different forms.
This pauri contains one of the most famous theological statements in the Bhagat tradition — a non-dual declaration: tuu meraa, mujhe tujh te kyaa antar ('You are mine, what difference is there between You and me?'). Ravi Daas — a Chamar (leather-worker, an 'untouchable' caste) — makes this claim of identity with the Divine from the bottom of the social hierarchy. This is not theological accident; it is the Bhagat tradition's most radical move. The God who is in the Brahmin is also in the Chamar. The gold is gold whatever shape you press it into. The wave is always water. Guru Arjan included this shabad in the GGS as a deliberate statement about divine accessibility.
If God is in you the way gold is in a bracelet, what does that mean about how you should treat yourself?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI