Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Those who set their hearts on tearing others down end up undoing only themselves.
The One who stands beside the good is everywhere, plain to see for anyone who looks.
A short, weighty Shalok of the Fifth Mehl (Guru Arjan) about slander — and a textbook case for the project's rule that ill-will defeats itself. The literal says slanderers "destroyed all remnants of themselves by their own efforts" (kar aapay aahar). Nothing is staged as a curse against them; the teaching is that tearing others down is self-undoing — the effort spent on harm eats the one who spends it. The counterweight is warm and universal: sant sahaa-ee... vartai sabh jaahar — the support of the good is "everywhere, plain to see." Ill-will collapses inward; goodness is quietly, openly present the whole time.
Why do you think trying to hurt someone else so often ends up hurting the person who tries? What does that reveal about how kindness works?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI