Moral ideal, keep the mind pure
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
डोळ्यामध्यें जैसें कणु । अणु तें हि न समाये ॥1॥
तैसें शुद्ध करीं हित । नका चित्त बाटवूं ॥ध्रु.॥
आपल्याचा कळवळा। आणिका बाळावरि न ये ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बीज मुडा । जैशा चाडा पिकाच्या ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Just as a tiny speck in the eye, even the smallest particle, cannot be tolerated, so too keep the mind pure for your own benefit. Do not let it be corrupted. The concern one has for one's own child does not extend to another's. Says Tuka, the seed must be sound if you desire a good harvest.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A tiny speck in the eye, even the smallest grain, cannot be borne there. So keep your good purely; do not let your mind be defiled. The tenderness you feel for your own child does not reach another's child. Tuka says: the seed must be sound if you want the crop to ripen.
What it means
Tukaram argues that small impurities matter, because the inner life cannot tolerate even a little corruption, just as the eye cannot tolerate the tiniest speck. So the care you take of your mind should be exacting, keeping your good intentions clean rather than half-mixed with selfish ones. He notes plainly that natural love runs only toward your own, not toward a stranger's child, naming how partial and narrow ordinary feeling is. The closing farmer's image lands the point: only sound seed gives a real harvest, so only a pure inner motive can ripen into a genuine good. Guard the seed of the heart, and the fruit takes care of itself.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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