Moral ideal, worship as faithful duty
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
स्वामिकाज गुरुभक्ति । पितृवचन सेवा पति ॥1॥
हे चि विष्णूची महापूजा । अनुभाव नाहीं दुजा ॥ध्रु.॥
सत्य बोले मुखें । दुखवे आणिकांच्या दुःखें ॥2॥
निश्चयाचें बळ । तुका ह्मणे तें च फळ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Service to one's master, devotion to the guru, obedience to a father's word, and a wife's faithful service to her husband: these are the highest worship of Vishnu; there is no other experience to match them. Speak only truth with your lips, and feel the pain of others as your own. Says Tuka, the strength of firm resolve is itself the fruit.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Doing your master's work, devotion to the guru, obeying your father's word, faithful service to your husband: this is the great worship of Vishnu. There is no other experience to match it. Speak only truth with your mouth. Feel the pain of others as your own. Tuka says: the strength of firm resolve is itself the fruit.
What it means
Tukaram locates worship not in ritual but in how a person lives their ordinary duties and bonds. Doing one's appointed work, honoring guru and father, keeping faith in marriage: these, done rightly, are the highest worship of Vishnu, with nothing higher to seek. Alongside them he sets a plain ethic: speak truth, and let the suffering of others touch you as if it were yours. The closing line gathers it: the very firmness of resolve to live this way is already the reward, not merely a means to one. Devotion here is steady right living, not display.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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