Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Guru Nanak reaches for an image both his Hindu and Muslim neighbors would feel right in the gut: taking what rightfully belongs to someone else is, to the soul, exactly what eating forbidden meat is to them — a Muslim eating pork, or a Hindu eating beef. That is the real thing to refuse.
The teacher stands with us when we refuse to 'eat' what isn't ours. And just talking about being good gets you nowhere — only truly living it does. You can't dress up a wrong with fancy words, any more than you can make forbidden food acceptable by sprinkling spices on it. From false talk, you only ever get more falsehood.
Having entered his Muslim neighbors' vocabulary with such respect in the previous shalok, Guru Nanak now uses a shared cultural feeling to make a piercing ethical point. Both communities held certain foods to be forbidden — pork for Muslims, beef for Hindus — and the very thought of eating them produced visceral revulsion. Guru Nanak takes that gut-level feeling and redirects it: to take what rightfully belongs to another is like a Muslim eating pork, or a Hindu eating beef.
The move is brilliant and characteristic. He does not argue about which foods are or aren't forbidden; he points past the dietary rule to the deeper moral prohibition both communities should feel just as strongly: injustice — taking what is not yours. The real "forbidden food," the thing that should turn the stomach of any truly religious person, is exploitation and theft. Our Guru stands by us, if we do not eat those carcasses — if we refuse to consume what belongs to others.
The shalok then warns against the easy substitute for actual goodness — talk. By mere talk, people do not earn passage to Heaven. Salvation comes only from the practice of Truth. And the memorable image: by adding spices to forbidden foods, they are not made acceptable. You cannot make a wrong thing right by seasoning it with clever words, fine excuses, or pious language. A dressed-up sin is still a sin. This is Guru Nanak relocating religion from ritual fastidiousness about food to ethical seriousness about justice — and refusing every attempt to rationalize wrongdoing with eloquence. From false talk, only falsehood is obtained.
Have you ever watched someone 'add spices' to something wrong — dressing it up in fine words — and did it ever actually make it right?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI