True worship, the unclean mind
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय बा करिशी सोवळें ओवळें । मन नाहीं निर्मळ वाउगें चि ॥1॥
काय बा करीसी पुस्तकांची मोट । घोकितां हृदयस्फोट हाता नये ॥ध्रु.॥
काय बा करीसी टाळ आणि मृदंग । जेथें पांडुरंग रंगला नाहीं ॥2॥
काय बा करीसी ज्ञानाचिया गोष्टी । करणी नाहीं पोटीं बोलण्याची ॥3॥
काय बा करीसी दंभलौकिकातें। हित नाहीं मातें तुका ह्मणे ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What use is your ritual purity and impurity when the mind is not clean? It is all in vain. What use is carrying a load of books when, despite memorizing them, the heart's truth eludes your grasp? What use are cymbals and drums where Panduranga has not been moved to delight? What use are talks of knowledge when there is no practice behind the words? What use is pretense and worldly show? Says Tuka, there is no benefit in it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What is the use of your clean and unclean, your ritual purity, when the mind itself is not clean? It is all in vain. What is the use of carrying a load of books? You memorize them till your heart bursts, and still the truth does not come into your hand. What is the use of cymbals and the drum where Panduranga has not been moved to delight? What is the use of talk about knowledge when there is no doing behind the words? What is the use of pretense and show before the world? Tuka says: there is no good in it for me.
What it means
Tukaram strips off the outer marks of religion one by one and asks the same question of each: what good is it. Ritual purity is empty when the mind is foul; books are empty when the heart's truth never reaches your hand; cymbals and drum are empty where God is not delighted; learned talk is empty when no living practice stands behind it. The test he applies is always inward: has the mind been cleaned, has Panduranga been moved, is there doing under the words. He ends by naming the worst of these, the religion kept up only for show before others, and says plainly it benefits him nothing.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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