Moral warning, ego the destroyer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अहंकार तो नासा भेद । जगीं निंदे ओंवळा ॥1॥
नातळे तो धन्य यासी । जाला वंषीं दीपक ॥ध्रु.॥
करवितो आत्महत्या। नेदी सत्या आतळों ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे गुरुगुरी । माथां थोरी धरोनि॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Ego is the destroyer, breeding division; the world rightly despises its touch. He who refuses to touch it is truly blessed and becomes a light within his lineage. Ego drives one to self-destruction and prevents one from touching the truth. Says Tuka, it perches upon the head, puffing itself up as guru above all gurus.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Ego destroys. It breeds division. The world is right to despise its touch. The one who will not touch it is blessed. He becomes a lamp in his own line. Ego drives a man to kill his own soul. It will not let him touch the truth. Tuka says: it sits on the head and growls, setting itself up as the great one, the guru above all gurus.
What it means
Tukaram names ego as the one thing that ruins a life and splits people apart, and he says the world is not wrong to recoil from it. The blessing falls on whoever refuses to handle it: such a person becomes a light for everyone after him. He calls ego self-murder, because it cuts a man off from the truth that would have saved him. The sharpest stroke is the last: ego loves to perch on the head and call itself the highest guru, so the warning is to watch for that swelling pride in oneself, not to despise some other person.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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