Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
No one can snatch away the teaching's gifts; the Master gave them.
Those who tear others down, with slander in their mouths, cannot see the value of what the teaching gives.
The verse assures that grace's gifts are unsnatchable — "no one can take away the Guru's gifts" because the Giver secured them. And it diagnoses the slanderer's blindness: consumed by tearing others down, "they do not appreciate the Guru's gifts." There is a quiet mercy even here — the slanderer is not cursed but pitied, blind to a treasure right in front of them. Their bitterness is its own punishment: they cannot see the gifts because their eyes are full of others' faults.
When your attention is full of what's wrong with others, what good might you be failing to see?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI