Moral ideal, one thing in the belly
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शब्दा नाहीं धीर । ज्याची बुद्धि नाहीं स्थिर ॥१॥
त्याचें न व्हावे दर्शन । खळा पंगती भोजन ॥ध्रु.॥
संतास जो निंदी । अधम लोभासाठीं वंदी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे पोटीं । भाव अणीक जया होटीं ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One whose words lack steadiness, whose resolve is never firm. Do not seek the sight of such a one. Do not share the meal-row with the wicked. One who slanders the saints and bows to the base out of greed. Says Tuka, one thing in the belly, another on the lips.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A person whose words have no steadiness, whose resolve is never firm: do not seek out his company, and do not sit in the same meal-row with the wicked. He slanders the saints, and bows low to the base out of plain greed. Tuka says: one thing in his belly, and another thing altogether on his lips.
What it means
A portrait of the double-minded man, and a warning to keep clear of him. His words are unreliable because his resolve is unsteady; his behavior is governed by appetite, so he will run down the genuinely holy while fawning on the powerful when there is something to gain. The mark Tukaram fixes on is the split between inside and outside, one thing in the belly, another on the lips, the very hypocrisy he hates most. To share even a meal-row with such a person, he suggests, is to absorb a little of that doubleness.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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