Social criticism, instruction wasted on the fool
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उकरडा आधीं अंगीं नरकाडी । जातीची ते जोडी ते चि चित्तीं ॥1॥
कासयानें देखे अंधळा माणिकें । चवीविण फिके वांयां जाय ॥ध्रु.॥
काय जाणे विष पालटों उपचारें । मुखासी अंतर तों चि बरें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे काय उपदेश वेडएा । संगें होतो रेडएासवें कष्ट ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A dunghill was there from the start, and the body is steeped in the filth of hell; the nature of such a one dwells on nothing but its own kind. How would a blind man recognize a gem? Without taste, things go to waste, pale and flavorless. Does anyone suppose that poison can be transformed by mere treatment? It is best kept far from the mouth. Says Tuka, what use is instruction to a fool? Keeping company with a buffalo brings only hardship.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It was a dunghill from the start, and the body is soaked in the filth of hell; such a nature dwells on nothing but its own kind. How would a blind man recognize a gem? With no taste for it, the thing is wasted, pale and flavorless. Does anyone think poison can be made safe by mere treatment? Better to keep it far from the mouth. Tuka says: what use is teaching a fool? Keeping company with a buffalo brings only hardship.
What it means
Tukaram piles up blunt images to describe a mind so closed that good counsel cannot land in it. A nature steeped in low craving dwells only on its own kind, the way a dunghill breeds only filth, and to such a one the highest teaching is wasted as a gem is wasted on a blind man or fine flavor on a tongue that cannot taste. He warns against the fantasy that such poison can be reformed by gentle handling; the prudent course is distance, keeping it away from the mouth. The point is not contempt for a particular person but a hard look at a pattern: where there is no openness, no taste for the truth, instruction only wears out the teacher, as plowing with a buffalo only exhausts the plowman. The summons is to examine whether one's own heart has any taste for the gem being offered.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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