Moral warning, hospitality and rage
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अतित्याई देतां जीव । नये कींव देवासि ॥1॥
थोडएासाटीं राग आला । जीव दिला गंगेंत ॥ध्रु.॥
त्यासि परलोकीं नाहीं मुक्ति । अधोगति चुकेना ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कृष्णराम । स्मरतां श्रम वारती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When a guest arrives and you give grudgingly, God takes no pity on you. For a small matter you flew into a rage and threw your life away in the river. For such a person there is no liberation in the next world; the downward path cannot be avoided. Says Tuka, by remembering Krishna and Rama, all sorrows are removed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When a guest comes and you give grudgingly, no pity for you stirs in God. Over a small thing anger rose, and he threw his life away in the river. For such a one there is no release in the world beyond; the downward path is not escaped. Tuka says: by remembering Krishna and Rama, the toil is taken away.
What it means
Tukaram sets two failures side by side. To feed a guest with a closed hand forfeits God's compassion, because grudging giving is no giving at all. To throw one's life away in a fit of rage over some small matter is worse, and it does not buy release; the soul that ends so falls, not rises. He is naming the patterns of stinginess and unchecked anger, not condemning a particular person, and the warning turns each reader back on his own heart. Then he offers the way out he always offers: the steady remembrance of Krishna and Rama, which lifts the very weariness these faults create.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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