Moral ideal, the bitter cure of correction
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
यासी कोणी ह्मणे निंदेचीं उत्तरें । नागवला खरें तो चि एक ॥1॥
आड वाटे जातां लावी नीट सोई । धर्मनीत ते ही ऐसी आहे ॥ध्रु.॥
नाइकता सुखें करावें ताडण । पाप नाहीं पुण्य असे फार ॥2॥
जन्म व्याधि फार चुकतील दुःखें । खंडावा हा सुखें मान त्याचा ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे निंब दिलियावांचून । अंतरींचा सीण कैसा जाय ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If anyone calls this censure or harsh speech, that person is the one truly deceived. When someone strays onto a wrong path, setting them right is the duty of dharma. If gentle words go unheeded, stern correction must follow; there is no sin in this, only great merit. The suffering of birth and disease can be avoided if one's pride is cut down for their own good. Says Tuka, unless the bitter neem is administered, how will the inner ailment be cured?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If someone calls this censure, harsh words, that person is the one truly fooled. When a man wanders onto the wrong path, setting him straight is itself the way of dharma. If gentle words go unheard, then stern correction must come. There is no sin in it; there is great merit. The pains of birth and disease can be spared if pride is cut down for the person's own good. Tuka says: unless the bitter neem is given, how will the inner sickness ever leave?
What it means
Tukaram defends hard, corrective speech as an act of love, not malice. He says the one who hears such words as mere insult has missed the point: guiding a wanderer back to the right road is dharma doing its work. When soft words fail, firmer treatment is not a fault but a service that can spare a person the long suffering of birth and disease. The neem image is the key: a true remedy is bitter, and the inner sickness, here named as pride, will not lift without it. The whole poem is aimed at the ailment and at the patient's good, not at contempt; the harshness is the medicine, given because the cure matters more than comfort.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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