Moral ideal, the mind decides
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चित्त समाधानें । तरी विष वाटे सोनें ॥१॥
बहु खोटा अतिशय । जाणां भले सांगों काय ॥ध्रु.॥
मनाच्या तळमळें । चंदनें ही अंग पोळे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे दुजा । उपचार पीडा पूजा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When chitta rests in contentment, even poison seems as gold. How very false is all of this, what shall I tell the good people? When chitta is in turmoil, even sandalwood scorches the body. Says Tuka, any other remedy is torment; even worship becomes affliction.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the heart rests in contentment, even poison seems like gold. How utterly false everything looks then; what can I tell the good people? But when the mind is in turmoil, even sandalwood paste scorches the skin. Tuka says: to a mind like that, every other remedy is torment, and even worship becomes one more affliction.
What it means
Everything depends on the state of the mind, Tukaram says, not on the thing itself. A contented heart can take even poison as gold, while a mind in turmoil is burned even by cooling sandalwood. The lesson is aimed at people who pile up remedies and rituals to fix their distress: if the inner unrest is not addressed, every cure becomes a new torment, and even worship turns into a burden. Peace is not something added from outside. It is the condition that makes everything else taste sweet or bitter.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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