The seasoning of the self, blows that ripen
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाठेळ करितां न साहावे वारा । साहेलिया ढोरा गोणी चाले ॥1॥
आपणां आपण हे चि कसवटी । हर्षामर्ष पोटीं विरों द्यावें ॥ध्रु.॥
नवनीत तोंवरी कडकडी लोणी । निश्चळ होऊनी राहे मग ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जरी जग टाकी घाया । त्याच्या पडे पायां जन मग ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
While the hide is being cured, it cannot withstand the wind. But once toughened, the ox bears the sack without complaint. Test yourself against yourself. Let joy and sorrow dissolve within. Butter churns and hardens from the curd. Once it becomes still, it stays firm. Says Tuka, if the world beats you with blows, the world will fall at your feet in the end.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the hide is still being cured, it cannot bear even the wind. Once it has toughened, the ox carries the loaded sack and does not complain. You are your own touchstone. Let joy and resentment dissolve inside you. Butter sputters and crackles out of the curd; once it grows still, it stays firm. Tuka says: if the world beats you with blows, then in the end the world falls at your feet.
What it means
Tukaram answers the soul that flinches at every hardship by pointing to how things are made strong. Raw hide tears in the wind, but once cured it carries the heavy sack; butter forms only after the curd is churned and then settles into something firm. So the self is tested against itself, and the test is whether joy and resentment can be let go rather than clung to. The blows of the world are not the enemy here; they are the curing and the churning. The one who lets them dissolve pride and irritation is the one the world will finally honor.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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