Tukaram, Poem 229

Because a girl is enjoyed for three years by Gandharva and Agni, do men or animals cast her off? A cow feeds on filth with her own mouth, yet she is pure; so is a stream when it has mingled with the Ganges. A peepul tree grows from a crow’s excrement; if you consider the birth of the Pandavas, it was guilty. Sakuntala, Suta, Karna, Sringi and Vyasa—their names destroy sin. Consider Ganika, Ajamela, Kuffja, Vidura—consider too who was Pingala, Valha, Visvamitra, Vasishta, Narada—was the origin of these men pure? Yet men and women whose actions would not save them were saved by their repentance and by remembering Hari. Tuka says, Lord Hari does not remember a man’s origin; he who considers that goes to hell.