Moral warning, the final test
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
निवडे जेवण सेवटींच्या घांसें । होय त्याच्या ऐसें सकळ ही ॥1॥
न पाहिजे जाला बुद्धीचा पालट । केली खटपट जाय वांयां ॥ध्रु.॥
संपादिलें होय धरिलें तें सोंग । विटंबणा वेंग पडियाली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वर्म नेणतां जें रांधी । पाववी ते बुिद्ध अवकळा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A meal is judged by its final morsel, and so it is with all things. If the mind has turned astray, then all one's efforts go to waste. What was carefully prepared becomes a mere pretense, and disgrace follows. Says Tuka, one who cooks without knowing the secret only brings ruin through misguided effort.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A meal is judged by its last mouthful. So it is with everything. If the mind has turned aside, then all the work was for nothing. What was carefully prepared turns into a mere show, and disgrace comes after it. Tuka says: one who cooks without knowing the secret only brings ruin through wasted effort.
What it means
Tukaram measures a life by how it ends, not by how it began. A whole meal is judged by its final morsel; in the same way, what counts is where your mind comes to rest at the close. If the mind has wandered from its true aim, all the careful work along the way is wasted, and what looked like genuine practice is exposed as a pretense that ends in shame. The secret he points to is the inner aim, the right knowing that must guide the doing; without it, even diligent effort, like cooking without knowing the recipe, only spoils what it touches.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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