Moral counsel, gladness at another's ruin
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आणिकांच्या घातें मानितां संतोष । सुखदुःख दोष अंगीं लागे ॥1॥
ऐसें मनीं वाहूं नयेती संकल्प । करूं नये पाप भांडवल ॥ध्रु.॥
क्लेशाची चित्तीं राहाते कांचणी । अग्नींत टाकोनी ठाव जाळी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येणें घडे पुण्यक्षय । होणार तें होय प्रारब्धें चि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Taking pleasure in the ruin of others brings both joy and sorrow as flaws upon oneself. One should not entertain such thoughts in the mind or make sin one's capital. The thorn of malice lodges in the chitta; like throwing something into fire, it burns away one's own ground. Says Tuka, by this, one's merit is destroyed. Whatever was destined happens by fate alone.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If you find pleasure in another's downfall, both the joy and the sorrow, the fault, cling to your own body. Do not carry such designs in your mind; do not make sin your stock in trade. The thorn of spite that stays in the heart is like throwing fire down: it burns the very ground you stand on. Tuka says: by this your merit is spent. Whatever is to happen happens by destiny alone.
What it means
Tukaram examines the quiet pleasure people take in seeing an enemy ruined. He says the fault of it sticks to you, not to them; to plot another's harm is to make sin your working capital. The malice you keep in your heart is like setting a fire under yourself; it consumes your own footing. And it is wasted besides, because it burns away your accumulated merit while changing nothing: what is destined will happen by fate regardless. The teaching points not at the rival but at the spiteful impulse, which only injures the one who holds it.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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