Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A loving heart holds no wish for revenge.
It wishes others well, even the one who wishes it ill.
The learner keeps the true Guide in mind,
and so the good rise, while ill-will leaves a person hollow and alone.
This is the moral center of the hymn: jan nirvair — the good heart is without vengeance. Nirvair — carrying no enmity, wishing well even to those who wish you ill — sits in the very opening creed of Sikhi, and here it is lived out. Jan bhal maaneh — the good wish others well. The literal close, 'the slanderer is cast into hell,' is dropped entirely and rendered as ill-will leaving a person hollow and alone — its natural cost, not a punishment inflicted from outside.
How hard is it to wish someone well when they've been unkind to you? What might make it possible?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI