Saints, worship without love is empty
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संताचा अतिक्रम । देवपूजा तो अधर्म ॥१॥
येती दगड तैसे वरी । मंत्रपुष्पें देवा शिरीं ॥ध्रु.॥
अतीतासि गाळी । देवा नैवेद्यासी पोळी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देवा । ताडण भेदकांची सेवा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
To mistreat a saint while worshipping God is itself unrighteousness. The flowers and mantras offered upon God's head return like stones thrown upward. One abuses the guest and then offers a fine bread to the deity. Says Tuka, the service of one who injures devotees is but a beating upon God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To wrong a saint while worshipping God is itself unrighteous. The mantras and flowers set on God's head come back like stones flung upward. You abuse the guest, then offer fine bread to the deity. Tuka says: the service of one who injures devotees is only a beating laid on God.
What it means
Tukaram tests temple worship against how a person treats God's own people. To honor the deity while mistreating a saint is not piety but its opposite; the offerings of mantra and flower rebound like stones thrown into the air, returning harm to the worshipper. The picture of abusing a guest and then presenting fine bread to the idol shows the contradiction at the heart of such worship. The closing line is severe: to hurt a devotee is to strike God himself, however lavish the ritual. The poem insists that real worship is inseparable from love and respect for the living, not confined to the altar.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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