Moral ideal, guard dharma, no false renunciation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धर्म रक्षावया साठीं । करणें आटी आम्हांसि ॥१॥
न बाणतां स्थिति अंगीं । कर्म त्यागी लंड तो ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे अधम त्यासी । भक्ति दूषी हरीची ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We must make every effort to protect righteousness. One who abandons prescribed duties before attaining the state of inner realization is merely a fraud. Says Tuka, the worst of all is the one who brings dishonor to the devotion of Hari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
For the sake of guarding dharma, we must take the trouble and make the effort. One who throws off his duties before that settled state is fixed in him is only a fraud. Tuka says: the lowest of all is the one who brings dishonor to the devotion of Hari.
What it means
Tukaram defends active duty against a counterfeit version of renunciation. Protecting dharma takes real effort, and he accepts that labor as ours to do. He warns against the man who drops his prescribed duties before inner realization has actually taken root in him; such early abandonment is not freedom but fraud, a posture without the substance behind it. The sharpest condemnation is saved for the one who disgraces the devotion of Hari, whom he calls the lowest of all. The pattern under examination is using high spiritual language to excuse skipping the work.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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