Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Some move through the world by night doing harm to others — but the One sees all, dear one.
They take what is not theirs and hide away in secret corners.
They break into guarded places and drink down a false, fleeting delight.
But their own deeds circle back, and in the end they are left full of regret.
What we sow, we gather; the harvest always finds its way home.
A Pauri of the Fifth Mehl describing the thief and wrongdoer who works by night. The literal is vivid and dark — strangling with a noose, spying on others' women, and closing with Azraa-eel (the Angel of Death) "crushing them like sesame seeds in the oil-press." Per the wellbeing rules, the graphic violence and the Death-terror image are dropped entirely. What remains is the moral spine of the verse, which is really about karma: karmee aapo aapnee aapay pachhutaanee — "we create our own consequences," and "their own deeds circle back." The closing line is rendered through the universal harvest-image — what we sow we gather — keeping the teaching's justice while removing its terror. The point is not fear of a torturer; it is that harm done to others quietly returns to its doer.
Why do you think the things we do to others tend to come back around to us? How does knowing that change the choices you make?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI