True worship, the test of love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लटिकें तें ज्ञान लटिकें ते ध्यान । जरि हरिकिर्तन िप्रय नाहीं ॥1॥
लटिकें चि दंभ घातला दुकान । चाळविलें जन पोटासाटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
लटिकें चि केलें वेदपारायण । जरि नाहीं स्काुंफ्दन प्रेम कथे ॥2॥
लटिकें तें तप लटिका तो जप । अळस निद्रा झोप कथाकाळीं ॥3॥
नाम नावडे तो करील बाहेरी । नाहीं त्याची खरी चित्तशुिद्ध ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसीं गर्जती पुराणें । शिष्टांची वचनें मागिला ही ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
That knowledge is false, that meditation is false, if one has no love for Hari's kirtan. It is all mere pretense, a shop of deceit set up to fool people for the belly's sake. Reciting the Vedas is futile if there is no genuine emotion at the sacred story. That austerity is false, that chanting is false, if one feels only laziness and drowsiness during the telling of God's deeds. One who does not love the Name will only perform outward show; such a person has no true purity of chitta. Says Tuka, thus declare the Puranas, and such too are the words of the wise from ages past.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
That knowledge is false, that meditation is false, if you do not love the kirtan of Hari. It is all just pretense, a shop set up to fool people for the sake of the belly. Reciting all the Vedas is false if no love stirs in you at the sacred story. That austerity is false, that chanting is false, if you only feel lazy and sleepy while God's deeds are told. One who does not love the Name will only do outward show; his heart is not truly pure. Tuka says: this is what the Puranas declare, and so do the words of the wise from long ago.
What it means
Tukaram applies a single test to every spiritual act: is there love in it. Knowledge, meditation, Veda-recitation, austerity, chanting, all of them fail the test and turn false if the heart stays cold at the story and song of God. He is sharp about the motive: religion done for the belly is a shop, a stall of pretense set up to fool people. The tell he points to is dozing and laziness during the kirtan, the body's honest report that the love is not there. He does not claim this as his private opinion; he says the Puranas and the old sages say the same, so the reader is being asked to examine his own coldness, not to look down on others.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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