ਧੋਬੀ (dhobee)
Meaning: noun: Washerman.
Quote:
ਧੋਬੀ ਧੋਵੈ ਬਿਰਹ ਬਿਰਾਤਾ॥ ਹਰਿ ਚਰਨ ਮੇਰਾ ਮਨੁ ਰਾਤਾ॥
dhobee dhovai birah biraataa. hari charan meraa man raataa.
As a washerman washes clothes while imbued with love, so is my mind, imbued with love, at the feet or memory of the Divine. -Bhagat Namdev, Guru Granth Sahib, 1196
Message: Washing off the past, old self
Do you know that one of the panj piare, the five beloved of the Guru, Muhkam Chand, was a washerman from Dwarka, Gujarat?
Bhagat Namdev uses a metaphor of the process of washing during his times in the Indian subcontinent.
A washerwoman used to drive a cart laden with dirty clothes to a village pond, where her husband (washerman) washed those clothes.
Bhagat Namdev compares:
- The human body to the cart,
- The mind to the washerwoman,
- The Guru’s congregation to the pond, and
- The Guru to the washerman who will help us wash the dirt of our wrong doings.
If we want to shed the dirt of our negativity and evil desires, then we should:
- Join the congregation of inspired people,
- Submit our mind to Gurbani and
- Faithfully follow the Guru’s advice.
The Guru’s wisdom will help us to clean our mind and fill it with divine love. This is how Namdev has imbued his mind and so can we too.
Etymology: From Sanskrit dhauvati (washes) → Pali dhovati → Prakrit dhovvai → Bengali/Oriya dhobaa (washerman) and Hindi/Punjabi dhobee (washerman).
Image: Washermen (dhobis) at work beside a river or pond
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
