Take the teaching, not the teacher
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उपदेश तो भलत्या हातीं । जाला चित्तीं धरावा ॥१॥
नये जाऊं पात्रावरी । कवटी सारी नारळें ॥ध्रु.॥
स्त्री पुत्र बंदीजन । नारायण स्मरविती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे रत्नसार । परि उपकार चिंधीचे ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Accept instruction from any hand that offers it; hold it in your chitta once it is given. One should not judge the vessel; a coconut shell can serve as well as a silver plate. Wife, son, and household servants all prompt you to remember Narayana. Says Tuka, the gem is precious, yet the credit goes to the rag that wraps it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Take instruction from any hand that gives it. Once it is given, hold it in your mind. Do not judge the dish it comes on. A coconut shell will serve as well as a silver plate. Your wife, your son, the servants of the house, all of them make you remember Narayana. Tuka says: the gem is what is precious; yet the credit goes to the rag that wraps it.
What it means
Tukaram tells you to receive truth from wherever it comes and to keep it, instead of measuring the worth of the one who hands it over. He drives the point home with the coconut shell against the silver plate: the value is in what is offered, not in the vessel. Even ordinary household life, wife and son and servants, can turn your mind toward Narayana. His last image keeps you humble: the jewel is the thing of worth, but it is the plain rag wrapping it that earns the thanks, so do not despise the lowly carrier of a great gift.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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