Salok Vaaraan Te Vadheek (Mehl 3), Salok 73 — the company you keep rubs off
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Do not put your trust in a greedy person, if you can help it.
At the very last moment they will trick you, there where no one can lend a hand.
Whoever keeps company with the manmukhs — those who follow only their own wants — gets a dark smudge of shame on their face.
Dark with shame are the faces of the greedy; they waste their lives and go.
O One, join me with the Sangat, the true gathering; may the Naam of the One come to live in my mind.
Nanak says: singing the praises of the One, the dirt of birth and death is washed away.
The company you keep marks you, so choose the Sangat and the Naam.
Lobhee kaa vaysaahu na keejai: do not trust a greedy person if you can help it, because at the last moment they will let you down where no one can help. Muhi kaalakh daag: keeping company with the self-willed leaves a dark smudge on the face, an old picture of shame.
The prayer turns the other way: satsangat har mayl, join me with the Sangat, the true gathering. There the Naam settles in the mind, and singing the praises of the One washes away janam maran kee mal, the dirt of birth and death.
Is there anyone whose company pulls you away from who you want to be?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI