Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One sets even kings and great nobles at ease.
Under their own weight, arrogance and cruelty collapse.
Ill-will spoken against the good comes back empty on the one who spoke it.
And everyone, all around, cheers the goodness that wins out.
This verse handles power and ill-will through the ill-will-defeats-itself lens. Paatisaah saah umraa-o — even the mightiest are set at ease by the One. The literal 'destroys the villains' and 'puts illness in slanderers' mouths' is rendered so the harm undoes itself: arrogance collapses under its own weight, and ill-will spoken against the good comes back empty on the speaker. No relishing of anyone's ruin — just the quiet law that cruelty defeats the cruel, while goodness is what everyone finally cheers.
Why do you think meanness often ends up costing the person who dishes it out?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI