Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A person given over to tearing down the good becomes misshapen by the work - and answers for it where everything is answered for.
They hang in-between: not really living, unable to rest. Hopes will not ripen for them; they leave the table disappointed.
Nobody, anywhere, ever found satisfaction through slander. As the One wills, so people become - and no one can un-write what their own hands wrote.
Only the True One sees the whole of it.
This one says no one has ever finished slandering and felt full, and the final judging belongs to the One alone.
The deepest line is about being stuck in-between. Sant kaa dokhee na marai na jeevaa-ee-ai — the slanderer neither dies nor truly lives. Slander leaves a person hanging. He cannot truly live, because a heart full of grudges has no room for the joy that living needs. He cannot rest, because the attack is never finished. The good person's goodness keeps growing faster than he can tear it down.
Sant kai dokh na taristai ko-ay — no one finds satisfaction through slander. This is a law anyone can check. In all of history, no slanderer has ever finished, sat back, and felt full. Think of eating salty chips when you are really thirsty. The more you eat, the thirstier you get.
Then the verse does something important for the reader's own heart. It hands the whole matter over. Pa-i-aa kirat na maytai ko-ay — no one can erase what has been done. Naanak jaanai sachaa so-ay — only the True One knows it all. The accounting is real, and it is not ours to run. A song like this could easily be used as a weapon against others. Instead, it ends by taking the judge's gavel out of the reader's hand.
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.
This hymn warns against judging the good falsely. Is there a way to read it without starting to judge the slanderers yourself?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI