Lowliness is the secret, the reed outlasts the tree
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अग्नीमाजी पडे धातु । लीन होउनि राहे अतु । होय शुद्ध न पवे घातु । पटतंतुप्रमाण ॥1॥
बाहएरंगाचें कारण । मिथ्या अवघें चि भाषण । गर्व ताठा हें अज्ञान । मरण सवें वाहातसे ॥ध्रु.॥
पुरें मातलिया नदी । लव्हा नांदे जीवनसंधी । वृक्ष उन्मळोनि भेदी । परि तो कधीं भंगेना ॥2॥
हस्ती परदळ तें भंगी । तया पायीं न मरे मुंगी । कोण जाय संगी । पाणोवाणी तयेच्या ॥3॥
पिटितां घणें वरि सैरा । तया पोटीं राहे हिरा । तैशा काय तगती गारा । तया थोरा होऊनि ॥4॥
लीन दीन हें चि सार । भव उतरावया पार। बुडे माथां भार । तुका ह्मणें वाहोनि ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When metal enters fire, it becomes one with the flame, remaining pure and unharmed, like thread within cloth. All outward display is false talk. Pride and arrogance are ignorance, carrying death along with them. When a flood swells, the mightiest trees are uprooted, but the tender reed survives by bending. The elephant shatters the enemy's army, yet the ant at its feet remains unharmed. Who can match the ant's gentle ways? When struck by a hammer repeatedly, the diamond in the belly of the stone endures, while stones of that same size would shatter. Says Tuka, lowness and smallness are the true essence for crossing the ocean of existence. Those who load their heads with the weight of their own doing will drown.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When metal goes into the fire, it sinks down and stays low, and so it comes out pure and unbroken, like thread held within the cloth. All outward show is nothing but empty talk. Pride and stiffness are ignorance; they carry death along with them. When the river floods and rages, the great trees are torn up and broken, but the slender reed lives on in the rush of water. The elephant shatters the enemy's ranks, yet the ant at its feet is not killed; who can keep up with the ant's gentle ways? When the hammer beats down hard, the diamond inside the stone endures, while pebbles of that same size are smashed. Tuka says: lowliness and smallness are the very essence for crossing the ocean of being. Those who carry the weight on their own heads will drown.
What it means
Tukaram piles up images to teach one truth: it is lowliness, not greatness, that survives. The metal that sinks low in the fire comes out pure; the reed that bends lives while the proud tree is uprooted; the ant at the elephant's foot is unharmed where armies are crushed; the diamond endures the hammer that shatters bigger stones. Each picture sets a small, yielding thing against a large, rigid one, and the small one wins. Against this he names pride and stiffness as ignorance, mere outward show that drags death behind it. The closing turns it into a rule for the spiritual life: meekness and smallness are the actual means of crossing the ocean of existence, and anyone who insists on carrying the weight of his own self-importance on his head will sink under it.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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