Moral ideal, the world you project
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शिंदळा साल्याचा नाहीं हा विश्वास । बाईल तो त्यास न विसंभे ॥१॥
दुष्ट बुद्धि चोरी करी निरंतर । तो म्हणे इतर लोक तैसे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जया चित्तीं जे वासना । तयाची भावना तयापरी ॥३॥
काला चेंडुफळी - अभंग १००
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The scoundrel, that son of a whore, trusts no one. He cannot let his own wife out of sight. The wicked mind steals constantly. He insists all other people do the same. Says Tuka, whatever desire sits in one's chitta, one's perception is shaped accordingly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The scoundrel trusts no one at all; he cannot even let his own wife out of his sight. The thieving mind steals without pause, and then assumes that everyone else is stealing too. Tuka says: whatever desire is sitting in a person's heart, his whole way of seeing the world is shaped to match it.
What it means
A sharp piece of psychology. The faithless man suspects everyone of faithlessness, the thief assumes all others are thieves, because each person reads the world through the desires that fill his own heart. Tukaram states the principle plainly: perception follows inner craving. We do not see the world as it is; we see it as we are. The unsettling corollary is that your suspicions and assumptions about others are a confession about yourself. To purify the seeing, you have to purify the heart behind the eyes.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
More in this theme →