Moral teaching, sin lives close at hand
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
एका पुरुषा दोघी नारी । पाप वसे त्याचे घरीं ॥1॥
पाप न लगे धुंडावें । लागेल तेणें तेथें जावें ॥ध्रु.॥
कांहीं दुसरा विचार । न लगे करावा चि फार ॥2॥
असत्य जे वाणी । तेथें पापाची च खाणी ॥3॥
सत्य बोले मुखें । तेथें उचंबळती सुखें ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे दोन्ही । जवळी च लाभहानी ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Where a man has two wives, sin dwells in that house. One need not search for sin; wherever sin resides, one must go there to meet it. No further deliberation is needed on this. A tongue that speaks falsehood is itself a mine of sin. But where truth is spoken from the mouth, happiness overflows. Says Tuka, both profit and loss are always near at hand.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Where a man keeps two wives, sin lives in that house. You need not go hunting for sin; where it lives, go there and you will meet it. There is nothing more to work out about this. A tongue that speaks falsehood is itself a mine of sin. But where the mouth speaks truth, joy overflows. Tuka says: both gain and loss are always near at hand.
What it means
Tukaram makes moral cause and effect concrete and close, not abstract or far off. He names a divided household and a lying tongue as places where harm simply dwells, so that one need not search for trouble; go where the wrong is and you will find its consequence. Set against the lying mouth is the truthful one, from which happiness overflows of its own accord. The closing line is the frame: profit and loss are not distant rewards and punishments but stand right beside every word and choice. How you live this moment is already the gain or the loss you are storing up.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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