Moral warning, friendship with the base
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अधमाची यारी । रंग पतंगाचे परी ॥१॥
विटे न लगतां क्षण । मोल जाय वांयां विण ॥ध्रु.॥
सर्पाचिया परी । विषें भरला कल्हारीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देवा । मज झणी ऐसे दावा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Friendship with the base is like the color of a lac dye: it fades before the moment is over, and its value goes to waste for nothing. Like a serpent, such a person is full of venom even amid a bed of lotuses. Says Tuka, O God, never let me encounter such people.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Friendship with the base is like the color of a lac dye: it fades before the moment is out, and its worth is wasted for nothing. Like a serpent, such a person is full of venom even among a bed of lotuses. Tuka says: O God, never let me meet such people.
What it means
Tukaram measures the worth of bad company through two sharp images. The friendship of base people is like a cheap dye that loses its color almost at once, promising much and holding nothing. Worse, such a person is like a snake whose poison stays in it even when it lies among lotuses; no fair surroundings can sweeten a venomous nature. The poem ends not in scorn but in prayer: he asks God simply to keep him clear of such company. The teaching is about guarding one's own heart by being careful whom one binds oneself to.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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