Moral ideal, no discrimination
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जेवितां ही घरी । नाक हागतिया परी ॥१॥
ऐसियाचा करी चाळा । आपुली च अवकळा ॥ध्रु.॥
सांडावें मांडावें । काय ऐसें नाहीं ठावें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे करी । ताका दुधा एक सरी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He dines in the house, yet defecates right where he eats. One who carries on like this brings only degradation upon himself. What to discard and what to keep, does he not even know this much? Says Tuka, he treats buttermilk and milk as one and the same.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He eats his meal in the house and then fouls the very spot where he ate. Anyone who behaves like that brings disgrace only on himself. What should be kept and what thrown away, does he not know even this much? Tuka says: he treats buttermilk and milk as if they were one and the same.
What it means
A blunt little satire on the person who has no power of discrimination, who cannot tell the worthy from the worthless and so spoils his own life. Fouling the place where you eat is Tukaram's crude, memorable image for ruining the good that sustains you. The failure is basic: not knowing what to hold onto and what to discard, treating milk and buttermilk as equal. The point underneath is that the spiritual life depends on this power of discernment, the ability to value rightly, and that without it a person degrades himself no matter what else he does.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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