What does not make a saint, the body-sense remains
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव्हती ते संत करितां कवित्व । संताचे ते आप्त नव्हती संत ॥1॥
येथें नाहीं वेश सरतें आडनांवें । निवडे घावडाव व्हावा अंगीं ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हती ते संत धरितां भोंपळा । करितां वाकळा प्रावरण ॥2॥
नव्हती ते संत करितां कीर्तन । सांगतां पुराणें नव्हती संत ॥3॥
नव्हती ते संत वेदाच्या पठणें । कर्म आचरणें नव्हती संत ॥4॥
नव्हती संत करितां तप तीर्थाटणें । सेविलिया वन नव्हती संत ॥5॥
नव्हती संत माळामुद्रांच्या भूषणें । भस्म उधळणें नव्हती संत ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं निरसला देहे । तों अवघे हे सांसारिक ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those who compose poetry are not saints thereby. The relatives of saints are not saints either. Here, outward appearance and borrowed titles do not suffice; one must bear the mark of transformation in one's own being. Those who carry a gourd are not saints by that; those who wrap themselves in a blanket are not saints. Those who perform kirtan are not saints on that account; those who recite Puranas are not saints. Those who chant the Vedas are not saints; those who perform rituals are not saints. Those who practice austerities and pilgrimage are not saints; those who live in forests are not saints. Those who adorn themselves with rosaries and sacred marks are not saints; those who smear themselves with ash are not saints. Says Tuka, so long as the body-sense has not been transcended, all such people are merely worldly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Writing poems does not make you a saint. Being a saint's relative does not make you one. Here a costume will not pass, nor a borrowed name; the mark of real change must be in you. Carrying a begging gourd does not make you a saint. Wrapping in a patched blanket does not. Performing kirtan does not make you a saint. Reciting the Puranas does not. Chanting the Vedas does not make you a saint. Doing rituals does not. Austerities and pilgrimage do not make you a saint. Living in the forest does not. Rosaries and sacred marks do not make you a saint. Smearing on ash does not. Tuka says: as long as the body-sense has not been worn away, all such people are still only worldly.
What it means
Tukaram strips away one badge of holiness after another, and the list is long on purpose. Poetry, lineage, kirtan, scripture, ritual, austerity, pilgrimage, prayer beads, ash, the whole visible inventory of a holy life, none of it makes a saint. The single test he gives is inward: has the sense of being a separate body and self been dissolved. Until that happens, every outer practice, however impressive, belongs to a worldly person playing a part. The poem is not contempt for these practices but a warning to look past the costume, including one's own, and ask whether the change is real.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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