Conduct, one seat for the saints
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पूज्या एकासनीं आसनीं आसन । बैसतां गमन मातेशीं तें ॥१॥
सांगतों ते धर्म नीतीचे संकेत । सावधान हित व्हावें तरी ॥ध्रु.॥
संतां ठाया ठाव पूजनाची इच्छा । जीवनीं च वळसा सांपडला ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे एकाएकीं वरासनें । दुजें तेथें भिन्न अशोभ्य तें ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When a seat of honor is prepared for the revered one, it is only fitting that one seat be occupied by one person, as a child sits in its mother's lap. I speak of the principles of propriety and righteous conduct; may you heed them for your own good. When saints vie for seats and positions of worship, they are already caught in a snare of worldly attachment. Says Tuka, only one may sit upon the high seat; a second presence there would be unseemly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When a seat of honor is set out for the revered one, one seat should hold one person, the way a child sits in its mother's lap. I am telling you the rules of right conduct; heed them for your own good. When saints scramble for seats and honors of worship, they are already caught in worldly entanglement. Tuka says: only one belongs on the high seat. A second presence there is out of place and unseemly.
What it means
Tukaram is giving a quiet teaching on propriety among the devout. The image of one seat for one person, like a child in its mother's lap, is about fittingness and undivided place. His real concern surfaces in the middle: the moment saints compete for seats and honors of worship, they have already fallen into the very worldly attachment they are supposed to have left. The high seat is meant for one, and crowding it is unseemly. The poem warns that the appetite for status can creep in even among holy people, and asks them to watch for it in themselves.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
More in this theme →