Moral ideal, true purity is inward
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विटाळ तो परद्रव्य परनारी । येथुनि जो दुरी तो सोंवळा ॥1॥
गद्यें पद्यें कांहीं न धरावी उपाधी । स्वाधीन चि बुिद्ध करुनी ठेवा ॥ध्रु.॥
विचाराचें कांहीं करावें स्वहित । पापपुण्यांचीत भांडवल ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे न लगे जावें वनांतरा । विश्व विश्वंभरा सारिखें चि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Pollution is another's wealth and another's wife: one who keeps distant from these is truly pure. In prose or verse, take on no entanglement; keep your buddhi sovereign, under your own sway. Through discernment, attend to your own good: the capital of sin and merit is what matters here. Says Tuka, no need to go to the forest. The world and Vishvambhara are one and the same.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Defilement is another's wealth and another's wife. Whoever stays far from these is truly pure. In prose or verse, take on no entanglement; keep your own mind free, under your own command. Through discernment, attend to your real good. The account that matters is the ledger of sin and merit. Tuka says: no need to go off to the forest. The world and Vishvambhara are one and the same.
What it means
Tukaram redefines purity away from outward ritual cleanness and toward conduct. The only real defilement is coveting what is not yours, money or another's wife; keep clear of that and you are clean. Do not get tangled in clever talk or argument; keep your own mind sovereign and use discernment to weigh what actually helps you, since the true ledger is one of right and wrong deeds. And there is no need to flee to the forest to find God, because the world itself is none other than Vishvambhara, the one who fills and sustains all.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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