The true saint is God's own form
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जें का रंजलें गांजलें । त्यासि म्हणे जो आपुलें ॥१॥
तो चि साधु ओळखावा । देव तेथें चि जाणावा ॥ध्रु.॥
मृदु सबाह्य नवनीत । तैसें सज्जनाचें चित्त ॥२॥
ज्यासि आपंगिता नाहीं । त्यासि घरी जो हृदयीं ॥३॥
दया करणें जें पुत्रासी । ते चि दासा आणि दासी ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे सांगूं किती । तो चि भगवंताची मूर्ती ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who claims the afflicted and oppressed as his own, that one alone should be recognized as a true saint; know that God dwells right there. The heart of a good person is like fresh butter, soft within and without. One who embraces in the heart those who have no one else, who shows the same compassion to servants and maids as to one's own children: Says Tuka, how much more can I say? Such a one is the very form of God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The one who calls the broken and crushed his own, him alone know as the true saint; know that God is right there. The good person's heart is like fresh butter, soft within and without. The one who shelters in his heart those who have no one, who shows a child's mercy to servant and maid alike, Tuka says: how much can I tell? That one is the very form of God.
What it means
Tukaram gives a single test for recognizing a true saint, and it is not learning or austerity but tenderness toward the abandoned. Whoever takes the afflicted and the crushed for his own is the genuine saint, and God is present exactly there. He likens such a heart to fresh butter, soft all the way through, the same on the outside as within. The mark is concrete: sheltering those who have nobody, and giving servant and maid the same mercy one gives one's own child; a person like that, he says, is the very form of God in the world.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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