Moral ideal, keep far from the wicked
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दुर्जनाची गंधी विष्ठेचिया परी । देखोनियां दुरी व्हावें तया ॥१॥
अइका हो तुम्ही मात हे सज्जन । करूं संघष्टन नये बोलों ॥ध्रु.॥
दुर्जनाचे अंगीं अखंड विटाळ । वाणी रजस्वला स्रवे तैशी ॥२॥
दुर्जनाचें भय धरावें त्यापरी । पिसाळलेवरी धांवे श्वान ॥३॥
दुर्जनाचा भला नव्हे अंगसंग । बोलिलासे त्याग देशाचा त्या ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे किती सांगावें पृथक । अंग कुंभीपाक दुर्जनाचें ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The stench of the wicked is like excrement; seeing them, keep far away. Listen, O good people: do not engage or quarrel with them. The wicked carry permanent ritual defilement; their speech flows like menstrual discharge. Fear the wicked as you would a rabid dog that lunges at anyone in sight. Keeping company with the wicked brings no good; exile from the very land is prescribed. Says Tuka, how much more can be said? The wicked person's very body is Kumbhipaka.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The stench of a wicked person is like the stench of excrement; the moment you see such a one, keep your distance. Listen, good people: do not get drawn into argument or quarrel with them. A constant defilement hangs about the wicked, and a ceaseless foulness pours out in their speech. Fear them the way you would fear a rabid dog that lunges at anyone in its path. No good ever comes of keeping their company; the old rule even prescribed banishing them from the land. Tuka says: what more is there to say? The very body of a wicked person is a hell.
What it means
A strong warning about toxic company. Tukaram heaps up images of contamination, stench, foulness, a hell carried in the body, to make a single practical point: stay away. He is especially wary of argument; do not even engage, because the quarrel itself drags you down to their level. The rabid dog is the operative comparison: the danger is not that the wicked are evil in the abstract but that they lunge and infect indiscriminately, so distance is the only safety. The harshness is protective, aimed at the corrupting pattern. Guard your company, he says, as you would guard your health.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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