Moral ideal, gratitude to the wicked
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
असो खळ ऐसे फार । आह्मां त्यांचे उपकार ॥1॥
करिती पातकांची धुनी । मोल न घेतां साबनीं ॥ध्रु.॥
फुकाचे मजुर। ओझें वागविती भार ॥2॥
पार उतरुन ह्मणे तुका । आह्मां आपण जाती नरका ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let there be as many wicked people as there are; we owe them a debt of gratitude. They scrub away our sins like washermen who charge no fee for the soap. They are unpaid laborers who carry our heavy loads upon their own backs. Says Tuka, they ferry us across to the far shore and then proceed to hell themselves.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let there be as many wicked people as there may be; we owe them a debt. They wash our sins away like washermen who take no fee for the soap. They are unpaid laborers; they carry our load on their own backs. Tuka says: they ferry us across to the far shore, and then go to hell themselves.
What it means
Tukaram takes the persecution of the good and reads it as a strange gift. The wicked who wrong us, he says, scrub our sins clean the way a washerman cleans cloth, and they do it for free. They are unpaid porters, carrying our burden on their own backs. The sharpest turn is the last: by wronging the innocent, they take on the consequence themselves, ferrying the good across to the far shore while sinking to hell on their own account. The teaching is to meet harm with gratitude rather than revenge, and to see how dearly the one who does harm pays.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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