Moral ideal, compassion is the true religion
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जग अमंगळ । लागे देखतां विटाळ ॥1॥
धर्म भूतांची ते दया । सत्य कारण ऐसीया ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हे माझें मत । साक्षी करूनि सांगें संत ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जीवें । दावी उमटूनि अनुभवें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The world without God is impure; merely looking at it brings contamination. True religion is compassion for all beings; this alone is the real principle. This is not just my opinion; I call the saints themselves as witnesses. Says Tuka, one must show this truth through one's own lived experience, stamped visibly upon one's life.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The world without God is unclean. Just looking at it brings defilement. True religion is mercy to all beings. This alone is the real ground of it. This is not only my opinion. I call the saints as my witnesses. Tuka says: show it with your life. Let it be stamped on you through your own experience.
What it means
Tukaram cuts straight to what religion actually is: not ritual or appearance, but compassion for every living being, and he calls this the one true principle. He says a world turned away from God is so impure that even looking on it stains you, which sharpens why mercy must be the standard. To keep this from sounding like a private opinion, he stands the saints behind it as witnesses. The final demand is hard: this truth has to be lived and visibly proven in a person's own conduct, not merely held as a belief.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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