True worship, the bitter core
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाऊनियां तीर्था काय तुवां केलें । चर्म प्रक्षािळलें वरीं वरीं ॥1॥
अंतरींचें शुद्ध कासयानें जालें । भूषण तों केलें आपणया ॥ध्रु.॥
इंद्रावण फळ घोिळलें साकरा । भीतरील थारा मोडे चि ना ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं शांति क्षमा दया । तोंवरी कासया काुंफ्दां तुह्मी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What have you accomplished by visiting a holy place? You have only washed the skin on the surface. By what means has the inside become pure? You have merely decorated yourself outwardly. A colocynth fruit coated in sugar still holds its bitter core, which no coating can change. Says Tuka, so long as patience, forgiveness, and compassion are absent, why do you even bother making a show?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What did you gain by going to the holy place? You only washed the skin on the outside. By what means did the inside become clean? You only decorated yourself on the surface. A bitter colocynth fruit rolled in sugar still keeps its bitter core; the inside does not change. Tuka says: as long as there is no peace, no forgiveness, no mercy in you, why do you bother making the show?
What it means
Tukaram measures pilgrimage against the state of the heart and finds the outing empty when the inner life is untouched. Bathing at a sacred site only rinses the skin and dresses up the surface; it cannot scrub the inside. His image is exact: a bitter gourd rolled in sugar still hides its bitterness, because no coating reaches the core. The point is self-examination, not scorn for any one pilgrim: without peace, forgiveness, and mercy actually grown inside, the external display is just a costume.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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