The moral ideal, true repentance
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अनुतापें दोष । जाय न लगतां निमिष ॥1॥
परि तो राहे विसावला । आदीं अवसानीं भला ॥ध्रु.॥
हें चि प्रायिश्चत । अनुतापीं न्हाय चित्त ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पापा । शिवों नये अनुतापा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Through genuine remorse, faults disappear in less than an instant. Then one rests in true peace, good from beginning to end. This alone is the real atonement: to bathe the mind in sincere repentance. Says Tuka, sin cannot even approach the one who feels true contrition.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Through remorse, faults go. They leave in less than a blink. Then you rest at ease, good from the beginning to the end. This alone is the real atonement: to bathe the mind in true repentance. Tuka says: sin cannot even touch the one who feels true remorse.
What it means
Tukaram makes sincere remorse, not ritual penance, the whole of atonement. Genuine contrition wipes out faults in an instant, and the one who feels it comes to rest, sound from start to finish. He says plainly that this bathing of the mind in repentance is the real prayascitta, the true cleansing, over against any prescribed rite. The closing line raises the stakes: sin cannot so much as approach a person whose heart is truly sorry. The work he asks for is inward and honest, a turning of the mind, not an outward transaction.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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