Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Make your real friend the One who holds everything in hand — the friend who is always there.
The friendships that cannot walk even a single step beside you when it truly matters are not the ones to lean your whole weight on.
This Shalok sorts friendship by one honest test: who actually stays? Ik vikh na chaleh saath — "does not go even one step with you." The word rendered "false friends" is kumitraa; the project's voice keeps this from sounding like a curse on any real person — it is about the kind of attachment (to status, to things, to fair-weather approval) that evaporates exactly when you need it. The verse is not telling a child to distrust people. It is telling them where to place the deepest trust: in the One that everything belongs to, the friend that circumstances cannot take away. Human friendship is real and precious; it is simply not meant to carry the weight that only the One can hold.
What is the difference between a friend who is fun to be around and a friend who shows up when things are hard?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI