Metaphor, the unstained nature of saints
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गंगाजळा पाहीं पाठी पोट नाहीं । अवगुण तो कांहीं अमृतासी ॥1॥
रवि दीप कािळमा काय जाणे हिरा । आणिका तिमिरा नासे तेणे ॥ध्रु.॥
कर्पूरकांडणी काय कोंडा कणी । सिंधू मिळवणीं काय चाले ॥2॥
परिस चिंतामणि आणिकांचा गुणी । पालटे लागोनि नव्हे तैसा ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तैसे जाणा संतजन । सर्वत्र संपूर्ण गगन जैसें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The water of the Ganga has no front or back; there is no flaw in nectar. Do the sun, a lamp, or darkness know what a diamond is? Yet the diamond destroys darkness for everyone around it. Does camphor powder contain husks or grit? Does anything hold its own when it merges with the ocean? The philosopher's stone and the wish-fulfilling gem transform others by their quality, yet they themselves remain unchanged. Says Tuka, know that the saints are just like this: complete everywhere, like the sky itself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Look at the water of the Ganga: it has no front and no back. There is no flaw in nectar. Do the sun, a lamp, or the darkness know what a diamond is? Yet the diamond destroys darkness for all around it. Does pounded camphor hold any husk or grit? Does anything keep its own shape once it merges with the ocean? The philosopher's stone and the wish-granting gem transform others by their nature, yet they themselves do not change. Tuka says: know that the saints are just like this, complete everywhere, like the sky itself.
What it means
Tukaram piles up images of things that are pure through and through, with no hidden flaw, to say what a saint is. The Ganga has no near side or far side, nectar has no defect, camphor has no grit; each is uniform all the way down. He adds the touchstone and the wish-gem, which transform whatever they touch while staying utterly unchanged themselves. The saints, he concludes, are of this kind. They lift and transform others without being altered or diminished, and they are not partial or local but complete everywhere, like the all-pervading sky. The poem is a portrait of a purity that gives endlessly yet loses nothing.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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