True worship, spend your life
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वेचावें तें जीवें । पूजा घडे ऐशा नावें ॥1॥
बिगारीची ते बिगारी । साक्षी अंतरींचा हरी ॥ध्रु.॥
फळ बीजाऐसें । कार्यकारणासरिसें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मान । लवणासारिखें लवण॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One should spend one's very life; only then can worship truly happen. Forced labor remains forced labor, and Hari within is the witness. The fruit is like the seed; the effect follows its cause. Says Tuka, honor is like salt; it must be true salt, nothing less.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You must spend your very life; only then does worship truly happen. Forced labor stays forced labor, and Hari within is the witness. The fruit is like the seed; the effect follows its cause. Tuka says: honor is like salt; it must be true salt, nothing less.
What it means
Tukaram measures worship by what it costs the worshipper. Real devotion means spending your own life into it; anything offered grudgingly is just forced labor, and the Hari seated within sees plainly which it is. He grounds this in plain law: a fruit takes after its seed, an effect after its cause, so a half-hearted offering can only yield a half-hearted result. The final image makes the standard absolute. As salt is worthless unless it is genuinely salt, honor given to God is worthless unless it is wholehearted and true. The poem points the reader inward, to the witness who cannot be fooled by outward show.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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