Saints, the company you keep
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जयासी नावडे वैष्णवांचा संग । जाणावा तो मांग जन्मांतरीं ॥1॥
मंजुळवदनीं बचनागाची कांडी । शेवटीं विघडी जीवप्राणा॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ज्याचा पिता नाहीं शुद्ध । तयासी गोविंद अंतरला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who does not love the company of Vaishnavas should be known as one cast out from past births. A sweet tongue may conceal poison, and in the end it destroys life itself. Says Tuka, one whose spiritual lineage is not pure remains forever distant from Govinda.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
One who does not love the company of the Vaishnavas, know him to be an outcast from a former birth. A sweet face can hide a stick of poison; in the end it destroys life and breath. Tuka says: one whose own father was not pure stays cut off from Govinda.
What it means
Tukaram makes love of holy company the test of a person's inner condition. Whoever has no taste for the fellowship of devotees, he says, carries something unclean out of the past, and the sweetness on such a person's surface can hide a poison that finally kills. The harsh line about an impure father points not at contempt for anyone's parentage but at the truth that what we inherit and dwell in shapes us; an unpurified lineage of habit keeps a soul distant from God. The warning turns back on the listener: examine whether your own heart is drawn to the saints or repelled by them.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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