Exhortation, the bitter neem
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बोललों तें कांहीं तुमचिया हिता । वचन नेणतां क्षमा कीजे ॥१॥
वाट दावी तया न लगे रुसावें । अतित्याई जीवें नाश पावे ॥ध्रु.॥
निंब दिला रोग तुटाया अंतरीं । पोभाळितां वरि आंत चरे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे हित देखण्यासि कळे । पडती आंधळे कूपा माजी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Whatever I have spoken was only for your benefit. If my words fall short, please forgive me. Do not resent the one who shows you the way. The transgressor perishes by his own willfulness. Neem is given to cut the disease within. If you merely pamper and fondle the surface, the rot keeps spreading inside. Says Tuka: only those with eyes can recognize what is truly good for them. The blind fall straight into the well.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Whatever I have said was only for your good; if my words came out clumsily, please forgive them. Do not resent the one who shows you the road. The willful man destroys himself by his own stubbornness. Neem is given, bitter, to cut a disease at its root; pamper only the surface and the rot goes on spreading inside. Tuka says: only the one with eyes can see what is truly good for him. The blind walk straight into the well.
What it means
Tukaram speaks as the reluctant truth-teller, and asks not to be hated for it. Hard words, like bitter neem, are medicine meant to cut a disease at the root; soothing flattery only lets the rot spread unseen. So he begs forgiveness for any clumsiness even as he refuses to soften the substance, and warns that resenting the one who shows the way is self-destruction. The closing image is stark: real good can only be recognized by those willing to see, while the blind, those who will not, walk straight into the well. To accept correction is to have eyes.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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