Rejection of Exploitation
Earning through exploitation, fraud, or harming others corrupts the soul regardless of religious practices.
No amount of prayer or ritual can purify wealth gained through exploitation. Sikhism teaches that spiritual practice is meaningless if one's livelihood causes suffering to others.
To exploit the weak is to eat the filth of pigs and cows.
This powerful metaphor challenged both Hindu and Muslim dietary prohibitions by saying ethical violations are worse.
Guru Granth Sahib
Written about in
- What Sikhism says about doing no harm
Money made by exploiting or defrauding people cannot be cleaned up by prayer. The livelihood has to be innocent, not just the ritual.
- What Sikhism says about truth and lying
The hardest line in the set: no amount of prayer or ritual purifies wealth taken from someone weaker. Nanak's image is deliberately disgusting, and it closes the loophole where devotion is allowed to compensate for how you make your living.