True worship, the life of all creatures
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देवाची पूजा हे भूताचें पाळण । मत्सर तो सीण बहुतांचा ॥1॥
रुसावें फुगावें आपुलियावरि । उरला तो हरि सकळ ही ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे संतपण यां चि नांवें । जरि होय जीव सकळांचा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
True worship of God is the nurturing of all living beings. Envy is the source of suffering for many. One should be angry only with oneself. What remains after that is all Hari. Says Tuka, saintliness is defined by this alone: becoming the very life of all creatures.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
True worship of God is the care of every living being. Envy is what wears so many people down. Be angry only with yourself. Whatever is left after that is all Hari. Tuka says: this alone is what sainthood means: to become the very life of all creatures.
What it means
Tukaram relocates worship from the shrine to the living world: to tend and protect all creatures is the real puja. He names envy as the disease that exhausts people, and gives a sharp instruction, sulk and rage at yourself alone, not at others. Once your resentment turns inward and burns out, what remains in front of you, every being, is simply Hari. The closing line defines holiness not by ritual or austerity but by one test: have you become the very life of all creatures.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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