Integrity in service, no flattery for hire
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मागायाची नाहीं इच्छा । जो मी ऐसा संकोचों ॥1॥
लटिकियाची न करूं स्तुति । इच्छा चित्तीं धरूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
हिशोबें तें आलें घ्यावें । हें तों ठावें सकळांसी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे स्वामिसेवा । येथें देवा काशाची ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have no desire to beg. I hold myself back in this way. I will not offer false praise while holding desire in my chitta. What comes by honest reckoning, that one should accept. Everyone knows this much. Says Tuka, this is the Lord's own service. What room is there for reward here, O God?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have no wish to beg; this is how I hold myself back. I will not offer false praise while hiding a want in my heart. What comes by honest reckoning, that one should take; everyone knows this much. Tuka says: this is the Lord's own service, so what room is there here for any reward, God?
What it means
Tukaram sets a code for how he will serve God: no begging and no flattery offered to get something in return. He will accept only what comes through honest dealing, the way anyone settles a fair account. The closing turn raises the whole thing higher: serving the Lord is not a transaction at all, so the question of payment does not even belong here. The poem holds devotion clean of the bargaining instinct, and quietly examines the self that would otherwise praise in order to be paid.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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