Company decides, longing is the strength
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देव होईजेत देवाचे संगती । पतन पंगती जगाचिया ॥१॥
दोहींकडे दोन्ही वाहातील वाटा । करितील सांटा आपुलाला ॥ध्रु.॥
दाखविले परी नाहीं वर्जिजेतां । आला तो तो चित्ता भाग भरा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे अंगीं आवडीचें बळ । उपदेश मूळबीजमात्र ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the company of God one becomes godly; in the company of the world one falls. Both paths lead in their own direction, each gathering its own kind. Though it has been shown many times, what cannot be restrained floods the chitta with its own nature. Says Tuka, the strength lies in one's own longing. Teaching is merely the root-seed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the company of God one becomes godly; in the company of the world one falls. The two roads run their own ways, each gathering its own kind. Though this has been shown again and again, what cannot be held back floods the mind with its own nature. Tuka says: the strength is in your own longing; teaching is only the root-seed.
What it means
Tukaram says the company you keep decides what you become: keep God's company and you grow godly, keep the world's and you sink. The two roads diverge and each one draws its own sort of person along it. The hard truth is that knowing this does not settle it; a person's own ingrained nature keeps flooding the mind no matter how often the lesson is taught. So the real power is the soul's own longing for God; instruction is only the seed, and longing is what must make it grow.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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