Moral ideal, you reap what you bind
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जेणें नाहीं केलें आपुलें स्वहित । पुढिलांचा घात इच्छीतसे ॥1॥
संचितासी जाय मिळोनियां खोडी । पतनाचे ओंडीवरी हांव ॥ध्रु.॥
बांधलें गांठी तें लागलें भोगावें । ऐसियासी देवें काय कीजे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जया गांवां जाणे जया । पुसोनियां तया वाट चाले ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He who has not worked for his own true welfare yet wishes harm upon others. He only adds fresh faults to his accumulated karma, eagerly clinging to the log of his own downfall. What is tied in the bundle of one's past must be endured. What can God do for such a person? Says Tuka, if you wish to reach a certain place, ask the way from those who know it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He who has not worked for his own true good, yet wishes harm on others, only adds fresh faults to his stored-up karma and clings eagerly to the log of his own downfall. What is tied in the bundle of one's past must be borne. What can God do for such a person? Tuka says: if you want to reach some town, ask the way from those who know it.
What it means
Tukaram names a self-defeating pattern: the person who has done nothing for his own real welfare and instead wishes harm on others. Every such wish does not touch the other; it only piles new faults onto the karma he is already carrying, so he is hugging the very thing that drowns him. He must bear what his own past has tied into his bundle, and even God will not simply lift that load while the man keeps adding to it. The closing image points to the way out: as a traveler asks directions from those who know the road, this person should turn to the saints and to God rather than spend himself on resentment. The look is meant inward, at one's own grudges, not down at anyone else.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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