Guru Ravidas - The Saint Cobbler

Dadi: "Guddu, what do you think is the most important thing about a person?"

Guddu: "Hmm... being smart? Being rich?"

Dadi: "Let me tell you about Guru Ravidas, a man who was neither rich nor from a powerful family. He was a cobbler - someone who fixed shoes. And yet, even queens bowed before him."

Guddu: "A cobbler became that great?"

Dadi: "In those days, cobblers were called "untouchables." People wouldn't even let their shadow fall on someone like Ravidas. They thought he was too lowly to pray to God."

Guddu: "That's so unfair!"

Dadi: "It was. But Ravidas didn't let others' opinions stop him. He worked on shoes all day, and he sang songs to God while he worked. He was so full of love and devotion that people started noticing something special about him."

Guddu: "What did they notice?"

Dadi: "His wisdom. His kindness. His glow of peace. Soon, people from all backgrounds came to hear him speak. Even Meera Bai, the famous princess-saint, became his student!"

Guddu: "A princess learned from a cobbler?"

Dadi: "She did! But not everyone was happy. The Brahmin priests were furious. "How dare a cobbler teach about God?" they complained to the king. "This goes against all rules!""

Guddu: "What did the king do?"

Dadi: "King Nagar Mal called a contest. He placed an idol of God in the middle of his court. He said, "Whoever can draw God's image toward them through their devotion will prove they have the right to worship.""

Guddu: "What happened?"

Dadi: "The Brahmin priests chanted for hours. They recited every sacred verse they knew. Nothing happened. The idol didn't move."

Guddu: "And then Ravidas tried?"

Dadi: "Ravidas simply closed his eyes and spoke to God from his heart. He didn't recite complicated mantras. He just expressed pure love. And beta... the idol is said to have moved and seated itself in Ravidas's lap."

Guddu: "Wow!"

Dadi: "But that's not all. Some priests still protested, saying he didn't wear the sacred thread that marked a holy person. So Ravidas tore open his shirt... and inside his chest was a golden thread, shining brighter than anything they had ever seen."

Guddu: "A thread inside his body?"

Dadi: "His inner light was so pure that it outshone any symbol they could wear. The priests who had boasted of their threads were humbled by a cobbler's faith."

Guddu: "What did Ravidas teach?"

Dadi: "He taught that God doesn't care about your caste or your job. He said, "All are equal in God's eyes. Caste, color, and creed are meaningless. They are all made by men." He also said that honest work - even fixing shoes - is a form of worship."

Guddu: "His poems are in the Guru Granth Sahib, right?"

Dadi: "Forty-one of his verses! The Sikhs honored him just as Hindus did. His words crossed all boundaries because they spoke truth that everyone could feel."

Guddu: "Dadi, I think the lesson is - your work doesn't make you small. Your heart does."

Dadi: "*beaming* Exactly, beta. A king with a cruel heart is smaller than a cobbler with a loving one. Ravidas spent his whole life fixing shoes, and in doing so, he fixed something bigger - people's understanding of what really matters."

Guddu: "I'll never look down on anyone because of their job."

Dadi: "That's the spirit of Ravidas living in you. Now, go to sleep with a heart as pure as his."

Guddu: "Goodnight, Dadi."