Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Setting yourself against goodness is the worst kind of wrongdoing - it leaves you without a single moment of rest.
It makes a person brutal inside. It sets them against the deepest current of everything.
Whatever kingdom they had crumbles; they become poor in every way that matters; the inner diseases collect; and they live forever cut off - separated from what they most need.
Of all the wounds a person can deal, this is the deepest. And yet - if it pleases the Saint, even this one is set free.
This one says slandering the good poisons the well everyone drinks from.
The verse calls slander of the good the worst wrong of all. Sant kee nindaa dokh meh dokh — slandering a saint is the wrong within wrongs. Dokh means a fault or wrong. It is fair for a child to ask why. Worse than stealing? Worse than hurting someone?
Here is the answer the tradition gives. Other wrongs hurt one person or damage one thing. Slandering the good attacks goodness at its source. It poisons the well everyone drinks from. It teaches a whole community to distrust the very people who could help heal it. Think of a school where a rumor spreads about the kindest teacher. Soon no one goes to her for help, and everyone loses.
The verse calls the slanderer mahaa hati-aaraa, a brutal butcher. That picture is about what slander does to the one doing it. Cutting down people's good names every day makes the heart hard and rough.
Sant kay nindak ka-o sadaa bijog — the slanderer lives forever separated. Bijog means separation. This is the deepest cost. The good person he attacked was his own bridge back. Attacking the saint, he burns the one crossing he had.
That is why the mercy line hits so hard here. It is the worst wrong of wrongs, and still the line of mercy arrives, right on time. Naanak sant bhaavai taa us kaa bhee ho-ay mokh — O Nanak, if it pleases the saint, even this one is set free.
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.
Why might tearing down a truly good person be worse than stealing a thing? What does it break for everyone?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI