Faith, fortune separates the pure
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
इिच्छलें ते शकुनवंती । होय देती तात्काळ ॥1॥
क्षीरा नीरा निवाड करी । वरावरी विठ्ठल ॥ध्रु.॥
भाग्याविण कैचें फळ ।अंतर मळमूत्राचें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे संचित कुडें । तें बापुडें करीतसे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Whatever the faithful desire comes to pass for them at once, like a good omen. Vitthal, from above, separates the pure milk from the water. Without true fortune, how can there be fruit? Within lies only filth and waste. Says Tuka, it is one's own crooked past karma that makes one act so pitifully.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What the faithful want comes to them at once, like a good omen. Vitthal sits above and judges. He parts the milk from the water. Without good fortune, where is the fruit? Inside there is only filth and waste. Tuka says: it is your own crooked past that makes you act so poorly.
What it means
Tukaram contrasts two inner conditions before God. To those with real faith, what they long for arrives quickly, and Vitthal, like a discerning swan, separates the pure milk from the water mixed in. But where the fortune of past deeds is missing, no fruit comes, and the inside of a person is only filth and waste. The closing line turns it inward: when a man behaves pitiably, the cause is his own crooked accumulated karma, so the work is on oneself rather than on blaming the world.
Faith and Trust
The boldness of faith, steadfastness, and the security of trusting in God.
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