When someone of “low” social class chants Your Nam, they obtain the state of highest dignity.
Go and ask Bidar, the son of a maid;
Krishan himself stayed in his house. || 1 ||
Listen, to the unspoken speech of the Creator; it removes all anxiety, pain and hunger. || 1 || Reflect||
Ravidas, the leather-worker, sang Your praises in each and every instant.
Although he was of ‘low’ social status, he was exalted and elevated; people of all four castes came and bowed at his feet. ||2 ||
Namdev loved You; the people called him a lowly fabric dyer.
You turned Your back on the ‘high-class’ Khastriyas and Brahmins; showed Your face to Namdev. || 3 ||
All Your devotees have the tilak, the ceremonial mark, applied to their foreheads at the sixty-eight sacred shrines of pilgrimage.
Being Nanak shall touch their feet night and day, if You grant Your grace. || 4 || 1 || 8 ||

   - Guru Ramdas Sahib in Rag Suhi  | Guru Granth Sahib 733

ਸੂਹੀ ਮਹਲਾ ੪ ਘਰੁ ੬
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਨੀਚ ਜਾਤਿ ਹਰਿ ਜਪਤਿਆ ਉਤਮ ਪਦਵੀ ਪਾਇ ॥
ਪੂਛਹੁ ਬਿਦਰ ਦਾਸੀ ਸੁਤੈ ਕਿਸਨੁ ਉਤਰਿਆ ਘਰਿ ਜਿਸੁ ਜਾਇ ॥੧॥
ਹਰਿ ਕੀ ਅਕਥ ਕਥਾ ਸੁਨਹੁ ਜਨ ਭਾਈ ਜਿਤੁ ਸਹਸਾ ਦੂਖ ਭੂਖ ਸਭ ਲਹਿ ਜਾਇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
ਰਵਿਦਾਸੁ ਚਮਾਰੁ ਉਸਤਤਿ ਕਰੇ ਹਰਿ ਕੀਰਤਿ ਨਿਮਖ ਇਕ ਗਾਇ ॥
ਪਤਿਤ ਜਾਤਿ ਉਤਮੁ ਭਇਆ ਚਾਰਿ ਵਰਨ ਪਏ ਪਗਿ ਆਇ ॥੨॥
ਨਾਮਦੇਅ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਲਗੀ ਹਰਿ ਸੇਤੀ ਲੋਕੁ ਛੀਪਾ ਕਹੈ ਬੁਲਾਇ ॥
ਖਤ੍ਰੀ ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣ ਪਿਠਿ ਦੇ ਛੋਡੇ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮਦੇਉ ਲੀਆ ਮੁਖਿ ਲਾਇ ॥੩॥
ਜਿਤਨੇ ਭਗਤ ਹਰਿ ਸੇਵਕਾ ਮੁਖਿ ਅਠਸਠਿ ਤੀਰਥ ਤਿਨ ਤਿਲਕੁ ਕਢਾਇ ॥
ਜਨੁ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਤਿਨ ਕਉ ਅਨਦਿਨੁ ਪਰਸੇ ਜੇ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾ ਕਰੇ ਹਰਿ ਰਾਇ ॥੪॥੧॥੮॥

Reflections:

Today’s Hukam is thought-provoking.

As the world argues about caste, color and so much more, Guru speaks.

I listen.

Those considered ‘low’ caste by birth, meditated and lived Nam (Divine-Identification), thereby achieving liberation.

If you want proof, look no further than Bidar whose mother was a slave. All his life, he was taunted about his lineage. Yet Krishan came to his home instead of going to the palace. Bidar’s love received Krishan’s highest honor.

Ravidas worked with rawhide. He remembered the Divine with every breath. His consciousness was dyed in Nam. Though the world called him a ‘low’ caste, he was the highest. And then came a time when all the other four social castes bowed before him.

The world saw Namdev as a lowly fabric dyer. The Brahmins and the Kshatriyas refused to let him sing at their temple. They threw him out. The story goes thus: the temple turned its back on the Brahmins and faced Namdev. Such was the power of Namdev’s love for the Divine.

The proverbial sixty-eight places of pilgrimage bow at the feet of such true devotees of the Divine.

Another interpretation: Vision of such true devotees is like visiting all the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage.

The forehead of such true devotees shines with alight that dims out all other worldly lights.

So listen to the unnarratable narrative. Contemplate on then. Doubt and pain will be removed.

Says Nanak: Grace me to sit at the feet of such devotees day and night.

My ardas: Unite me with those immersed in Nam; may they raise my consciousness and may I see the One in all.