Moral counsel, knowing transgression
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न कळतां कोणीं मोडियेलें व्रत । तया प्रायिश्चत्त चाले कांहीं ॥1॥
जाणतियां वज्रलेप जाले थोर । तयांस अघोर कुंभपाक ॥ध्रु.॥
आतां जरी कोणी नाइके सांगतां । तया शिकवितां तें चि पाप ॥2॥
काय करूं मज देवें बोलविलें । माझें खोळंबिलें काय होतें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे जना पाहा विचारूनी । सुख वाटे मनीं तें चि करा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If someone breaks a vow unknowingly, some form of expiation is still possible. But for those who transgress knowingly, the sin is sealed like an iron brand; the severest hells await them. If someone will not listen even when told, then teaching them only adds to the sin. What can I do? God has moved me to speak; nothing of mine was at stake. Says Tuka, O people, consider carefully; do whatever brings peace to your mind.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If someone breaks a vow without knowing, some expiation can still be made. But for those who break it knowingly, the fault is sealed like an iron coating, and the worst hells, the boiling cauldron, wait for them. And if a person will not listen when told, then to keep instructing them only adds to the sin. What can I do? God set me to speak. Nothing of mine was at stake. Tuka says: O people, look at this carefully, and do only what brings true peace to your mind.
What it means
Tukaram weighs the difference between breaking a sacred duty by ignorance and breaking it with open eyes. The first can be repaired; the second hardens like an iron seal and draws the severest hells. He adds a sober note about teaching: once a person refuses to hear, going on instructing them only multiplies the wrong, so the speaker must know when to stop. He clears himself of any private motive, saying God moved him to speak and he gains nothing from it. The closing is an appeal to honest self-examination: weigh it for yourself, and do what genuinely settles the mind rather than what merely flatters it.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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