God known through devotees, shun the slanderer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जावें बाहेरी हा नाठवे विचार । नाहीं समाचार ठावा कांहीं ॥1॥
कांहीं न कळे तें कळों आलें देवा । मांडिला रिघावा कवतुक ॥2॥
कवतुकासाठीं भक्त देहावरि । आणिताहे हरि बोलावया॥3॥
यासि नांव रूप नाहीं हा आकार । कळला साचार भक्ता मुखें ॥4॥
मुखें भक्तांचिया बोलतो आपण । अंगसंगें भिन्न नाहीं दोघां ॥5॥
दोघे वेगळाले लेखिल जो कोणी । तयाचा मेदिनी बहु भार ॥6॥
तयासी घडलीं सकळ ही पापें । भक्तांचिया कोपें निंदा द्वेषें ॥7॥
द्वेषियाचा संग न घडावा कोणा । विष जेंवी प्राणां नाश करी ॥8॥
करितां आइके निंदा या संतांची । तया होती ते चि अधःपात ॥9॥
पतन उद्धार संगाचा महिमा । त्यजावें अधमा संत सेवीं ॥10॥
संतसेवीं जोडे महालाभरासी । तुका ह्मणे यासि नाश नाहीं ॥11॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The thought of going outside did not occur to them. They had no awareness of what was happening in the world. What they did not know became known to God, and He began to stir them with a new wonder. For the sake of wonder, God brings His devotees back into bodily awareness, calling them to speak. He who has no name, form, or shape is truly known through the mouths of His devotees. God speaks through the mouths of His devotees. He and they are never separate. Whoever considers the two as distinct, that one is a heavy burden upon the earth. All sins accumulate for such a person, who through slander and hatred offends the devotees. One should never keep the company of the envious; it is like poison that destroys life. Those who hear or participate in the slander of saints suffer the same downfall. The company one keeps determines one's rise or fall. Abandon the wicked and serve the saints. In the service of saints, great treasures are gathered. Says Tuka, this treasure knows no decay.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The thought of going outside never crossed their minds; they had no news of anything. What they did not know became known to God, and he set up a new wonder to draw them out. For the sake of that wonder, Hari brings his devotees back into the body and calls them to speak. He who has no name, no form, no shape is truly known through the mouths of his devotees. He speaks through his devotees' mouths himself; in being joined to them, the two are not separate. Whoever counts the two as distinct is a heavy weight on the earth. Every sin gathers on such a one, who through slander and hatred offends the devotees. Keep no one company with the hateful man; he is like poison that destroys your life. Those who speak or even listen to the slander of saints fall the same way down. Rise and fall hang on the company you keep. Leave the base ones, serve the saints. Tuka says: in serving the saints a great gain is gathered, and this gain never decays.
What it means
Here Tukaram turns from the absorbed cowherds to a hard teaching about the devotees themselves. God, who has no name or form, becomes known in the world through the mouths of his saints, and he is so joined to them that to treat God and his devotee as two separate things is a grave error. From this he draws a sharp warning, aimed not at any person but at a pattern: slander and hatred of saints heap up sin, and merely keeping company with such talk or even listening to it pulls a person down the same way. The remedy is plain. Watch the company you keep, leave the corrupting kind, and serve the saints, where the one gain that never rots is found.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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