Metaphor, breeding will tell
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जातीचें तें चढे प्रेम । पक्षी स्मरे राम राम ॥1॥
ते काय गुण लागती येरां । कागा पिंजरा शोभेना ॥ध्रु.॥
शिकविलें तें सुजात सोसी । मग तयासी मोल चढे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वेषधारी ॥ हिजडएा नारी नव्हती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Innate love rises according to one's nature; a bird remembers Ram, Ram on its own. Such qualities do not attach to lesser creatures; a crow in a cage does not become beautiful. A well-born creature endures training gladly, and its value only rises. Says Tuka, a eunuch wearing woman's dress does not become a woman.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Love rises true when it is in the breed; the bird remembers Ram, Ram on its own. Such qualities never settle on the lesser kind; a crow in a cage does not turn beautiful. The well-born creature takes its training gladly, and then its worth climbs. Tuka says: a man dressed up as a woman does not become a woman.
What it means
Tukaram is saying that genuine devotion shows its native quality, and pretense cannot fake it. The fine parrot says Ram, Ram from its own nature, while a crow stays a crow even shut in the same cage and dressed up in the same setting. The point is about inwardness against costume: only the one with the real disposition takes the discipline gladly and grows in true worth. The final image of a man in woman's dress drives it home bluntly: outward show fools no one for long, and borrowed appearances do not change what a thing actually is. The examination is meant to fall on ourselves, on whether our devotion is native or merely worn.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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