Moral ideal, one's own dharma as the whole path
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कुळधर्म ज्ञान कुळधर्म साधन । कुळधर्में निधान हातीं चढे ॥1॥
कुळधर्म भक्ति कुळधर्म गति । कुळधर्म विश्रांति पाववील ॥ध्रु.॥
कुळधर्म दया कुळधर्म उपकार । कुळधर्म सार साधनाचें ॥2॥
कुळधर्म महत्त्व कुळधर्म मान । कुळधर्म पावन परलोकींचें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे कुळधर्म दावी देवीं देव । यथाविध भाव जरीं होय ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Family duty is knowledge; family duty is spiritual practice. Through family duty, the treasure comes into one's hands. Family duty is devotion; family duty is the path forward. Family duty will grant the ultimate repose. Family duty is compassion; family duty is service to others. Family duty is the very essence of all practice. Family duty is honor; family duty is respect. Family duty purifies one for the world beyond. Says Tuka, family duty reveals God in the divine, if one's inner disposition is true to the proper way.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Family duty is knowledge; family duty is the practice. Through family duty the treasure climbs into your hands. Family duty is devotion; family duty is the way forward. Family duty will bring you to rest. Family duty is compassion; family duty is service to others. Family duty is the essence of all practice. Family duty is greatness; family duty is honor. Family duty makes you fit for the world beyond. Tuka says: family duty shows God within the gods, if the inner feeling is true to the proper way.
What it means
Tukaram presses one claim from every angle: the duty given to you by your own station in life is itself the complete path. He refuses to set ordinary obligation against high spirituality; faithfully kept, family duty is at once knowledge, devotion, practice, compassion, service, and the road to repose. Lived rightly, it is what makes a person fit for the world beyond. But the last line carries the condition that saves it from mere conformity: this only works if the inner disposition is true. Done with a real heart, ordinary duty reveals God shining inside the very forms of worship.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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