True worship, seek Him among people
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाहातां ठायाठाव । जातो अंतरोनि देव ॥1॥
नये वाटों गुणदोषीं । मना जतन येविशीं ॥ध्रु.॥
त्रिविधदेह परिचारा । जनीं जनादनन खरा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे धीरें- । विण कैसें होतें बरें॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When you look for God in place after place, He recedes into the distance. One should not get lost in judging qualities and faults; the mind must be carefully guarded in this regard. In serving the body's threefold needs, one finds that Janardana truly dwells among the people. Says Tuka, without patience, how can anything turn out well?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When you look for God in place after place, he keeps slipping away into the distance. Do not get lost in weighing other people's merits and faults; guard your mind carefully in this. Serving the body's threefold needs, you find that Janardana truly lives among people. Tuka says: without patience, how does anything turn out well?
What it means
Tukaram corrects the search that keeps God always elsewhere. The more you hunt for him in one holy place after another, the further off he recedes, and the habit of judging the good and bad in others only scatters the mind. The turn is that God, Janardana, is found in serving real people in their ordinary needs, not in spiritual sightseeing. He closes on the quiet discipline that makes this possible: without patience, nothing comes right. Worship is steadiness and service close at hand, not restless seeking far away.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
More in this theme →