True worship, the heart God reads
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
करावी ते पूजा मनें चि उत्तम । लौकिकाचें काम काय असे ॥१॥
कळावें तयासि कळे अंतरींचें । कारण तें साचें साचा अंगीं ॥ध्रु.॥
अतिशया अंतीं लाभ किंवा घात । फळ देतें चित्त बीजा ऐसें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जेणें राहे समाधान । ऐसें तें भजन पार पावी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Worship should be done with an excellent chitta; what is the use of work done for worldly show? What is to be known, that One knows what lies within; truth in the body is the cause that reaches the True One. Excess in the end brings either gain or ruin, for chitta yields fruit true to the seed. Says Tuka, the devotion by which contentment abides, that is the devotion that carries one across.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Worship should be done with a fine and willing heart; what is the worth of anything done for public show? The thing to understand is that the One sees what is inside you; only truth carried in the body reaches the True One. Pushed to an extreme, anything ends in gain or in ruin, for the heart yields a fruit exactly true to its seed. Tuka says: the devotion that leaves you in deep contentment, that is the devotion which carries you across.
What it means
Tukaram moves worship from the outside to the inside. What counts is not the performance others can see but the quality of the heart, because God reads the within, and only truth actually lived in the body reaches him. He adds a law of the inner life: the heart yields fruit true to its seed, so what you sow inwardly is what you reap. The test he offers is simple and usable: real devotion leaves you in settled contentment. If a practice does not bring that peace, it is not yet carrying you across; if it does, it is.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
More in this theme →