Moral ideal, the bitter heart
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सदा तळमळ । चित्ताचिये हळहळ ॥१॥
त्याचें दर्शन न व्हावें । शव असतां तो जिवे ॥ध्रु.॥
कुशब्दाची घाणी । अमंगळविली वाणी ॥२॥
नेणे शब्द पर । तुका म्हणे परउपकार ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Constant burning, constant anguish in the consciousness. Avoid even the sight of such a one; though a corpse, he walks among the living. The stench of harsh words has defiled his speech. Tuka says: such a one knows nothing of kind words, nothing of doing good for others.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Always seething, always some grievance gnawing at the heart. Do not even let yourself see such a person: though he breathes, he is a walking corpse. The stench of harsh words has fouled his speech. Tuka says: he knows nothing of a kind word, nothing of doing good for anyone.
What it means
A portrait of the bitter person, and a warning. The one consumed by constant resentment is, for Tukaram, already dead while living; better not even to be in his sight, because the poison spreads. His speech is fouled by the habit of harsh words, and he has lost the very capacity for kindness or for doing good to others. Set beside Tukaram's pictures of the saint, this is the photographic negative: where the saint's heart is soft as butter and his mouth full of God's praise, the bitter man's heart burns and his mouth gives off a stench.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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