Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The wise and quiet ones have long understood this, and the four Vedas say it too: what a heart rooted in love truly speaks tends to come true.
That kind of clarity becomes plain to everyone. There is nothing hidden about it, and all people hear of it.
Those who set themselves against the good and settled find no peace.
The good long to share their goodness with them, but they are burning in their own pride. It is really themselves they are working against.
Carrying ill-will toward one who holds no ill-will, a heart with no enemy in it, turns back on the one who carries it.
It is like a tree cut at the root: its own branches dry up.
Ill-will aimed at a heart that has no enemies finds nothing to hold on to, so it bounces back on the one who threw it.
This pauri by Guru Arjan gathers the song's teaching about ill-will into its clearest pictures. The sant mun jan, the saints and quiet sages, are named with respect, and so are the four Vedas, the old Hindu scriptures. They all agree: the words of a heart rooted in love carry weight.
The hard middle line is sukh na paa-in mugaDh nar sant naal khahan-day: those who fight with the good find no peace. Why? Ahankaar sarhan-day: they burn in their own pride. The fire is their own.
The key line is vair karan nirvair naal: they hold a grudge against the one who holds none. Nirvair is one of the great words of the Mool Mantar, the opening of the Guru Granth Sahib. It means a heart with no enemy in it. Aim ill-will at such a heart, and it has nothing to catch on. It bounces back, like a ball thrown at a wall.
The ending picture is plain: payd mundhaahoo kati-aa tis daal sukan-day. When a tree is cut at the root, its branches dry up. Ill-will cuts at its own roots.
Some lines speak of a bad fate written beforehand. Read them as a pattern people fall into, not as a door locked forever. If someone is being unkind to you or hurting you, that is never something you have to accept. Telling a grown-up you trust is always the right thing to do.
What do you think it would feel like to be nirvair — to carry no enemy in your heart at all, even toward someone who was unkind to you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI