Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Tearing down the good shortens the tearer's own life from the inside - joy drains out of it, and no dark corner hides them from the end.
It muddies their thinking. It costs them their name.
A person set against goodness itself cannot be pulled out by anyone else - the place they stand in becomes stained.
And yet - if the kind-hearted Saint shows kindness, even the slanderer, in good company, is saved.
This one says the slanderer's only way out is held open by the very person he attacked.
The list begins. A life cut short. No escape from death. Happiness gone. A muddied mind. A lost good name. A place made unclean. Each line starts sant kai dookhan, by slandering the saints.
Read these as punishments from outside, and they can sound harsh. Read them as descriptions, and they are exact. A mind built around resenting goodness is already living every item on the list. Sant kai dookhan mat ho-ay maleen — slandering the saints, the mind gets dirty. That dirt is not a future penalty. It is the slander itself, happening now. Think of someone who keeps a notebook of everything wrong with a classmate. The one filling the notebook is the one whose days grow darker.
Then comes the real shape of this verse, in its last two lines. Sant kirpaal kirpaa jay karai — if the kind saint shows kindness. Naanak satsang nindak bhee tarai — O Nanak, in good company, even the slanderer is carried across. Satsang means the company of good people.
The one no one else could save is saved by the very person he attacked. Mercy comes from the target. This line of mercy returns, verse after verse, all through this dark song.
If someone is being unkind to you or hurting you, that is never something you have to accept. Telling a grown-up you trust is always the right thing to do.
Could you be kind to someone who spent their time speaking badly of you? What would it take?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI