Moral ideal, truth staked with one's life
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पात्र शुद्ध चित्त गोही । न लगे कांहीं सांगणें ॥1॥
शूर तरी सत्य चि व्हावें । साटी जीवें करूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
अमुप च सुखमान । स्वामी जन मानावें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जैसी वाणी । तैसे मनीं परिपाक ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When the chitta is pure and true, no further instruction is needed. If you would be a real warrior, stake your very life on truth. The immeasurable honor is this: consider the Master as your own people. Says Tuka, let the words on the tongue match the ripeness within the chitta.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the heart is pure, it is its own witness. Then nothing more needs to be told. If you would be a true warrior, be truthful, and stake your very life on it. The measure of real honor is this: treat the Master, and all people, as your own. Tuka says: let the words on your tongue match what has ripened inside your heart.
What it means
Tukaram redraws courage in moral terms: the real warrior is the one who will stake his life on truth, not on the battlefield but in plain honesty. He grounds it in a pure heart, which needs no instruction because it bears witness to itself. From there he asks for two things, that the Master and other people be held as one's own, and that speech match the inner ripeness rather than running ahead of it. The thread is integrity: no gap between tongue and heart, no honor higher than treating others as your own.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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