The pure heart, naturally sweet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वीट नेघे ऐसें रांधा । जेणें बाधा उपजे ना ॥१॥
तरी च तें गोड राहे । निरें पाहे स्वयंभ ॥ध्रु.॥
आणिकां गुणां पोटीं वाव । दावी भाव आपुला ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे शुद्ध जाती । ते मागुती परतेना ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Cook in such a way that no one feels disgust with the food and no harm arises from it. Only then does it remain sweet, naturally and of its own accord. Other qualities have emptiness at their core and merely display their nature outwardly. Says Tuka, what is pure by its very nature never turns back.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Cook so that the food takes no taint, so that no harm comes from it. Then it stays sweet, on its own, pure of itself. Other qualities are hollow at the core; they only show off what they are. Tuka says: what is pure by birth never turns back.
What it means
Tukaram uses cooking as the figure for a life and a heart. Food prepared cleanly, with nothing rotten worked into it, stays sweet of its own accord; nothing has to be added to make it good. He sets this against qualities that are empty inside and only display themselves outwardly, all surface and no substance. The point lands on inward purity: what is genuinely pure does not need to perform, and it does not lapse or turn back from itself.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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