Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Give me the wisdom to worship and love You with my body.
O Ravi Daas, the one who understands that the Lord is equally in all is very rare.
This one says it is rare to see the One in everyone, and that is something to ask for.
Sareer aaraaDhai mo ka-o beechaar dayhoo: "Give me the wisdom to worship You with my body." Not only with words, and not only with thoughts, but with all of who I am. Ravi Daas worked with leather. It was work that many people in his time looked down on. Some people judged him by the family he was born into. He asks to worship the One with that very body.
Ravidaas sam dal samjhaavai ko-oo: "O Ravi Daas, the one who understands that the Lord is equally in all is very rare." To see the One equally in every person, whatever their family or background, is not just an idea to learn. It is a way of seeing that has to be lived. It is truly hard to do.
Ravi Daas does not say, "Try harder." He says it is rare, and he asks for it as a gift. He does not claim he already has it. That is the humility of someone who has come very close. He does not boast about arriving. He points clearly to where to go. Think of a friend who notices the new kid sitting alone and sees a person just like everyone else. That kind of seeing is a gift worth asking for.
Who is the hardest person for you to imagine God being equally present in? What would it take to see differently?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI