True worship, inward meditation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अंतरींचें ध्यान । मुख्य या नांवें पूजन ॥1॥
उपाधि तें अवघें पाप । गोड निरसतां संकल्प ॥ध्रु.॥
आज्ञा पाळावी हा धर्म । जाणते हो जाणा वर्म ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वृित्त । अविट हे सहज िस्थति ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Inward meditation is the truest worship by this name. All disturbance is sin; it is sweet when mental resolve dissolves. To obey God's command is the real dharma. O knowing ones, know this secret well. Says Tuka, this effortless natural state is an inexhaustible abiding condition.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Meditation within: that is what truly deserves the name worship. Every added trapping is sin; it turns sweet the moment the scheming mind dissolves. To keep God's command is the real duty. You who understand, understand this secret. Tuka says: this is the steady state, an unspoiled, natural abiding.
What it means
Tukaram locates worship inside, in steady inward meditation, and says that alone earns the name. The outer trappings and contrivances he calls sin, not because ritual objects are evil but because the busy, scheming mind they feed is the obstacle; the moment that resolve-making mind quiets, everything turns sweet. He reframes duty too: real dharma is simply obeying God's will, and he calls out the ones who already know to actually grasp this. The end names the goal, an effortless, natural condition that does not stale or break, abiding on its own.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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