True worship, the steady mind
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न लगे देशकाळ । मंत्रविधानें सकळ । मनें चि निश्चळ । करूनि करुणा भाकावी ॥1॥
येतो बैसलिया ठाया । आसणें व्यापी देवराया । निर्मळ ते काया । अधिष्ठान तयाचें ॥ध्रु.॥
कल्पनेचा साक्षी । तरि आदरें चि लक्षी । आवडीनें भक्षी । कोरडें धान्य मटमटां ॥2॥
घेणें तरि भाव । लक्षी दासांचा उपाव। तुका ह्मणे जीव । जीवीं मेळविल अनंत ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
No special time, place, or ritual is needed. Simply make the mind steady and cry out to God. He comes to wherever you are seated; the Lord pervades all. A clean body is His dwelling place. If He is the witness of all thought, then He watches with great eagerness, eagerly chewing even dry grain. What He wants is pure devotion. He watches for the ways of His servants. Says Tuka, Ananta will unite the jiva within the jiva.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
No special time, no place, no ritual is needed. Just make the mind itself still and cry out for mercy. He comes to wherever you are sitting; the Lord fills every place. A clean body is his seat. He is the witness of every thought, so he watches you closely, and he eats even dry grain with delight; what he takes is your love. He watches for the ways of his servants. Tuka says: Ananta joins the life within the life.
What it means
Tukaram strips worship down to its core. You do not need the right hour or shrine or rite; you need a still mind and an honest cry for mercy, and God, who pervades everything, arrives wherever you are seated, making a pure body his throne. Because he witnesses every thought, the outward offering hardly matters: he will gladly accept even plain dry grain, since what he is really after is the devotion behind it. Attentive to his servants' efforts, the Infinite then unites soul to soul, life within life.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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