Social criticism, the wicked cannot taste
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय ढोरापुढें घालूनि मिष्टान्न । खरा विलेपन चंदनाचें ॥1॥
नको नको देवा खळाची संगति । रस ज्या पंगती नाहीं कथे ॥ध्रु.॥
काय सेज बाज माकडा विलास । अळंकारा नास करुनी टाकी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे काय पाजूनि नवनीत । सर्पा विष थीत अमृताचें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why set fine delicacies before a donkey or smear sandalwood paste on an ass? God, spare me the company of the wicked, for they have no taste for the nectar of sacred stories. What use is a luxurious bed to a monkey? It will only destroy the ornaments. Says Tuka, even if you feed a serpent butter and cream, its venom remains the same.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What good is it to set fine food before cattle, or to smear sandal paste on a donkey? No, God, do not give me the company of the wicked; they find no relish at the table where holy stories are told. What good is a soft bed and its comforts to a monkey? It only ruins the ornaments. Tuka says: what good is it to feed a snake butter and cream? Even given nectar, its poison stays poison.
What it means
Tukaram is asking to be spared the company of those who cannot receive what is being offered, and he says it in a string of plain images. Delicacies before cattle, sandal paste on a donkey, a fine bed for a monkey, cream for a snake: in each case the good thing is wasted because the receiver has no taste for it. He turns this on the wicked who sit through holy stories and feel nothing, and on the snake that drinks cream yet keeps its venom. The point is not contempt for any person but a warning about a pattern: where the appetite for the sacred is missing, even the highest gift is squandered, so guard your own hunger for it.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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