Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Set down anything harsh in your heart, and live with awe and gentleness instead.
A wonder-filled reverence has softened many a hard heart and led it to peace.
Let good, true words melt a heart of stone, so calm can settle in.
Kindness done from that calm place is real — but no one ever found their way through anger and grabbing.
A landmark interfaith Shalok, addressed ai jee — "O Shaykh" — to a Muslim holy man, in the shared vocabulary of the time. Its counsel is universal and gentle: "abandon your cruel nature," "pierce your stone heart with the Word," let "peace come to abide." Crucially, Guru Amar Das speaks across religious lines without contempt — he addresses the Shaykh as a fellow seeker and offers the same medicine he'd offer anyone: soften the heart, and "in this fear [reverent awe] find the Fearless Lord." The closing is a plain moral truth good in every tradition: kaam krodh... kinai na paaiaa — "through lust and anger, no one has ever found God — go, ask any wise man." A rare, warm reaching-across.
How might a gentle, calm heart find things that an angry, grabbing one never could?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI