Discrimination, saint and crowd are not one
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दहएांचिया अंगीं निघे ताक लोणी । एका मोलें दोन्ही मागों नये ॥1॥
आकाशाचे पोटीं चंद्र तारांगणें । दोहींशी समान पाहों नये ॥ध्रु.॥
पृथ्वीचा पोटीं हिरा गारगोटी । दोहोंसी समसाटी करूं नये ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तैसे संत आणि जन । दोहींसी समान भजूं नये ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
From the same cow come both buttermilk and butter; one should not demand both for the price of one. In the belly of the sky dwell both the moon and the stars; one should not regard them as equal. In the belly of the earth lie both diamonds and common pebbles; one should not treat them alike. Says Tuka, so it is with saints and ordinary folk; one should not worship them in the same way.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
From the same cow come buttermilk and butter; you cannot ask for both at one price. In the sky's belly are the moon and the stars; do not look at the two as equal. In the earth's belly lie the diamond and the pebble; do not treat the two as the same. Tuka says: so it is with saints and ordinary people; do not worship the two the same way.
What it means
Tukaram teaches discernment through three plain pictures: buttermilk and butter, moon and stars, diamond and common stone. In each pair the two things come from one source and share a place, yet they are not of one worth, and pretending otherwise cheats the higher thing. He then lands the point: saints and ordinary folk are like this. The teaching is not contempt for ordinary people; it is a warning against flattening the difference, against giving a saint and a crowd the same regard and so missing what a saint actually is.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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