Saints, oneness feels all pain
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मारूं नये सर्प संतांचिये दृष्टी । होतील ते कष्टी व्यापकपणें ॥1॥
एक सूत्र जीवशिवीं आइक्यता । रोम उपडितां अंग कांपे ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं साहों येत दुखाची ते जाती । परपीडा भूतीं साम्य जालें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे दिला नीतीचा संकेत । पुजा नांवें चित्त सुखी तेणें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One should not kill a serpent in the sight of saints, for it would cause them great distress, seeing God in all beings. There is one thread of unity between the individual soul and the Supreme. When a hair is pulled, the whole body trembles. They cannot bear the suffering of others, for they have become one with all creatures in their pain. Says Tuka, the saints have given us this moral teaching: true worship is that which makes the chitta content.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not kill a serpent in a saint's sight. It would distress him, for he sees God spread through all. There is one single thread joining the soul and Shiva. When one hair is pulled, the whole body trembles. The saints cannot bear another's suffering; the pain of every creature has become their own. Tuka says: the saints have given this rule of right conduct. True worship is what leaves the heart content.
What it means
Tukaram grounds non-violence in a felt oneness, not a mere rule. A saint cannot watch even a snake be killed, because he sees the one God spread through every being and feels the creature's pain as his own. He uses the body's own evidence: pull a single hair and the whole body flinches, so a being who is joined to all flinches at any creature's suffering. From this he draws the saints' teaching for conduct: do not inflict pain, and measure worship not by ritual but by whether it leaves the heart at peace.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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