Saints, become one to find one
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अनंत लक्षणें वाणितां अपार । संताचें तें घर सांपडेना ॥1॥
जये घरीं संत राहती आपण । तें तुह्मां ठिकाण आतुडेना ॥ध्रु.॥
ठिकाण धरूनी पाहवे ते संत । उगा च अकांत करूं नये ॥2॥
संत होऊनियां संतांसी पाहावें । तरि च तरावें तुका ह्मणे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The virtues of the saints are infinite and beyond description; their true dwelling cannot be found. The place where saints choose to reside is beyond your reach. Hold firmly to your own ground and seek out the saints from there; do not make a pointless commotion. Says Tuka, one must become a saint oneself in order to truly see the saints, and only then can one be saved.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The marks of the saints are endless, beyond all telling; their true house cannot be found. The place where the saints themselves live, you will not stumble upon. Hold your own ground and look for the saints from there; do not raise a pointless commotion. Tuka says: you must become a saint yourself to truly see the saints, and only then are you carried across.
What it means
Tukaram says the saints cannot be located the way one finds a house on a map; their qualities are beyond counting and their real dwelling is not a place you can blunder into. So the seeker's frantic searching outside is a pointless commotion. The instruction is to hold steady on your own inner ground and seek from there. The deep claim comes last: like is recognized by like, so you can only truly see a saint by becoming one yourself, and it is that inner transformation, not the finding of an address, that ferries you across.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
More in this theme →