Metaphor, the gift wasted on the unfit
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सोनियाचें ताट क्षीरीनें भरिलें । भक्षावया दिलें श्वाना लागीं ॥१॥
मुक्ताफळहार खरासि घातला । कस्तुरी सुकराला चोजविली ॥ध्रु.॥
वेदपरायण बधिरा सांगे ज्ञान । तयाची ते खुण काय जाणे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे ज्याचें तो चि एक जाणे । भक्तीचें महिमान साधु जाणे ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A golden plate filled with milk-rice was set before a dog to eat. A pearl necklace was put upon a donkey, and musk was offered to a pig. One may recite the Vedas to a deaf man, but how will he ever grasp their meaning? Says Tuka, the worth of a thing is known only by the one to whom it belongs. Only the saintly know the true greatness of devotion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A golden plate is filled with milk-rice and set down for a dog to eat. A pearl necklace is hung on a donkey, and musk is offered to a pig. You may recite the Vedas to a deaf man, but how will he grasp what they mean? Tuka says: only the one to whom a thing belongs truly knows its worth. Only the saintly know the greatness of devotion.
What it means
Tukaram is saying that the value of a precious thing depends on the one who receives it. Milk-rice on a golden plate, a pearl necklace, musk, the Vedas: each is beyond price, yet wasted on a dog, a donkey, a pig, a deaf man, who cannot register what they hold. He is not sneering at people so much as naming a hard fact of fitness: devotion is just such a treasure, and its glory is visible only to those who have the heart to know it. The worth is real either way; what changes is whether the receiver can recognize it.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
More in this theme →