Satire, the meddler who spoils what was whole
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आणिकांसी तारी ऐसा नाहीं कोणी । धड तें नासोनि भलता टाकी ॥1॥
सोनें शुद्ध होतें अविट तें घरीं । नासिलें सोनारीं अळंकारीं ॥ध्रु.॥
ओल शुद्ध काळी काळें जिरें बीज । कैंचें लागे निज हाता तेथें ॥2॥
एक गहू करिती अनेक प्रकार । सांजा दिवसीं क्षीर घुगरिया ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे विषा रुचि एका हातीं । पाधानी नासिती नवनीत ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
No one else ruins things quite like this: they take what was whole and break it apart carelessly. Gold in the house was pure and lasting; the goldsmith spoiled it by fashioning ornaments. A moist, pure, dark seed: once handled, how can its original nature be found? One grain of wheat is turned into endless forms: porridge, milk-puddings, and sweet pastries. Says Tuka, poison is palatable to one; the cook ruins the butter.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
No one ruins things the way this kind of person does: he takes what was sound and breaks it apart for nothing. The gold in the house was pure and unfading; the goldsmith spoiled it by working it into ornaments. A moist, pure, dark seed: once it has been handled, how can its own nature be recovered? One single wheat grain is turned into a dozen forms: porridge, milk-pudding, sweet dumplings. Tuka says: poison tastes good to a certain hand; the cook spoils the butter.
What it means
Tukaram mocks the meddler who cannot leave a whole thing whole. Through a run of homely images, gold reworked into ornaments, a pure seed handled until its nature is lost, one honest grain of wheat tortured into a dozen fancy dishes, he shows how something simple and complete is fussed over and degraded in the name of improvement. The thrust is at our compulsion to elaborate and adorn what was already pure, mistaking the busywork for value. The closing barb, that poison can taste sweet to the wrong palate and the cook spoils even the butter, points the lesson at self-examination: beware the urge to refine and complicate, especially in spiritual things, when the plain and unhandled was already what was good.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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