Talk:Nirguṇī Sant Ravidās
By Vishal Agarwal
In Vārāṇasī lived a humble cobbler named Ravidās, who used to make his living by repairing the leather shoes of his customers. In those days, cobblers were looked down upon as unclean by others because they handled leather which came from the hides of dead animals. However, Ravidās did his work diligently, and constantly remembered God and sang His praises in his heart while working.
One day, a brāhmaṇa knowledgeable in all Śāstra came to Ravidās to get his shoe repaired. Out of humility and respect for the scholarly brāhmaṇa, Ravidās refused to take any money from him for repairing the shoe but asked him for a favour. Ravidās had saved a small copper coin from his hard-earned money, and he requested the brāhmaṇa to offer it to Mother Gaṅgā when he went to Haridvāra, another holy city on the River Gaṅgā. But Ravidās insisted “Do not just throw my coin into the river. First say to Mother Gaṅgā that Ravidās has sent this gift for you. If only she stretches out her hand, place the coin on it. Otherwise, do not offer it to Mother Gaṅgā.”
The brāhmaṇa was amused and thought that Ravidās was a fool to think that a hand would stretch out of the River Gaṅgā to accept his coin. Nevertheless, when he went to Haridvāra, he did do what Ravidās had requested. Suddenly, a hand stretched out of the river to take the coin and said “I am glad to accept my son Ravidās’ gift to me.” The brāhmaṇa was shocked, but the hand came out again – this time holding a beautiful golden bangle. River Gaṅgā then spoke in a human voice – “I am sending this gift for my beloved son Ravidās. When you travel to Vārāṇasī, please give this bangle as a gift to him on my behalf.”
The brāhmaṇa became greedy upon getting the bangle. He thought “Who will believe that River Gaṅgā gifted a precious bangle to a poor and ignorant cobbler Ravidās? I will gift this beautiful bangle to the king, and he will give me a lot of money in return.” The brāhmaṇa took the bangle to the king who gifted it to the queen. But the queen wanted an identical bangle for her other wrist too. The king now warned the brāhmaṇa “Go and get me another identical bangle, or I will get you imprisoned.”
The poor brāhmaṇa did not know what to do. So he took the bangle to Ravidās in Vārāṇasī and narrated the whole story. Ravidās did not feel angry with the brāhmaṇa at all. Instead, he said “I am so happy that my mother Gaṅgā sent me a gift.” Then he brought a bowl of water in which he used to dip pieces of leather (to make them soft) that he used for repairing shoes, and said – “If my mind is pure, may Mother Gaṅgā appear in this bowl” (jab mana caṅgā to kaṭorī meṅ Gaṅgā).
A miracle happened the brāhmaṇa saw the River Gaṅgā flowing inside the bowl, and he also saw several similar bangles in the bed of the river. Sant Ravidās then pulled out a bangle and gave it to the brāhmaṇa.
The brāhmaṇa was greatly humbled. He realised that all his mastery over scriptures was worth nothing in front of the humility, purity of mind, simplicity, and devotion of Ravidās – a mere cobbler. He went to the king and narrated the whole story to him. The king was amazed and the entire royal family turned up to honour Ravidās. Everyone used to think that Ravidās was dirty because he was a cobbler who worked with an unclean material like leather. But so pure was the mind of Ravidās that River Gaṅgā (which itself is said to purify us when we take a dip in it) considered Ravidās as her own son.