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.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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