True worship, knowing is not living
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कथनी पठणी करूनि काय । वांचुनि रहणी वांयां जाय ॥1॥
मुखीं वाणी अमृतगोडी । मिथ्या भुकें चरफडी ॥ध्रु.॥
पिळणी पाक करितां दगडा । काय जडा होय तें ॥2॥
मधु मेळवूनि माशी । आणिका सांसी पारधिया ॥3॥
मेळऊनि धन मेळवी माती । लोभ्या हातीं तें चि मुखीं ॥4॥
आपलें केलें आपण खाय । तुका वंदी त्याचे पाय ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What use is mere recitation and study without living it? Without true practice, everything goes to waste. Sweet words on the tongue mean nothing if one still writhes in spiritual hunger. No amount of grinding and cooking will make a stone edible. The bee gathers honey, but it is the hunter who takes it. The miser hoards wealth and gathers only dust; what ends up in his mouth is the same dust. Says Tuka, only the one who acts upon what he knows truly reaps the reward; I bow at such a one's feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What use is reciting and studying? Without living it, it all goes to waste. Sweet words are on the tongue, but the false hunger still writhes inside. Grind a stone and cook it; it stays a stone. The bee gathers the honey, but the hunter takes it. The miser gathers wealth and gathers only dust; dust is all that reaches his mouth. Tuka says: the one who eats what he himself has made, I bow at his feet.
What it means
Tukaram aims this at the gap between knowing and doing. Recitation and study are worthless if you do not live them; honeyed words on the tongue do not feed a soul that is still starving. He stacks up plain images to drive it home: a stone stays inedible no matter how long you cook it, the bee that hoards honey only loses it to the hunter, the miser ends with dust in his mouth. Read it as a question to put to yourself, not a verdict to throw at others. Only the one who acts on what he has learned truly reaps it, and to that one Tukaram bows.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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