Moral counsel, guard the company you keep
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दुधाचे घागरी मद्याचा हा बुंद । पडिलिया शुद्ध नव्हे मग ॥1॥
तैसे खळां मुखें न करावें श्रवण । अहंकारें मन विटाळलें ॥ध्रु.॥
काय करावीं तें बत्तीस लक्षणें । नाक नाहीं तेणें वांयां गेलीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे अन्न जिरों नेदी माशी । आपुलिया जैशी सवें श्वगॉ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If a single drop of liquor falls into a pot of milk, the whole pot is spoiled beyond recovery. Likewise, do not listen from the mouths of the wicked; their minds are defiled by ego. Of what use are all thirty-two auspicious marks when the nose is missing? Everything is ruined. Says Tuka, a single fly prevents the digestion of an entire meal, carrying its filth along with it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
One drop of liquor falls into a pot of milk, and the whole pot is no longer pure. In the same way, do not listen to teaching from the mouths of the wicked. Their minds are stained with pride. What use are the thirty-two auspicious marks if the nose is missing? They are all wasted. Tuka says: one fly will not let the food be digested, and it carries its own filth along with it.
What it means
Tukaram is warning about contamination through the company you keep and the words you take in. A single drop of liquor spoils a whole pot of milk, and one corrupting voice can spoil a clean mind, so he says do not take instruction from those whose minds are stained with ego. The image of the missing nose says that a single decisive flaw cancels every other virtue, however many. The fly that ruins a meal and carries its own filth names how a small inner corruption spreads and undoes the good. The point is self-examination about what and whom we let into the heart, not contempt for any particular person.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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