Metaphor, the nature that will not change
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
निंबाचिया झाडा साकरेचें आळें । आपलीं ती फळें न संडी च ॥1॥
तैसें अधमाचें अमंगळ चित्त । वमन तें हित करुनि सांडी ॥ध्रु.॥
परिसाचे अंगीं लाविलें खापर । पालट अंतर नेघे त्याचें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वेळू चंदना संगतीं । काय ते नसती जविळकें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if you water a neem tree with sugar syrup, it will not abandon its bitter fruit. So is the mind of a wicked person: even after vomiting out what is good, it casts it aside. A potsherd placed against the philosopher's stone does not change its inner nature. Says Tuka, does a bamboo become fragrant simply by standing next to sandalwood?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Water a neem tree with sugar syrup, and still it keeps its bitter fruit. It will not give that up. So is the mind of a low man. He spits out what is good for him and throws it away. Set a broken potsherd against the philosopher's stone; its inner nature does not turn to gold. Tuka says: does a bamboo grow fragrant just by standing near the sandalwood?
What it means
Tukaram is saying that some natures do not change just because good is poured on them. He stacks four pictures: a neem tree fed sugar yet keeping its bitterness, a hardened mind throwing away the very good that could help it, a potsherd that the touchstone cannot turn to gold, a bamboo that gains no scent from the sandalwood beside it. The point is not contempt for any person but a sober warning: nearness to what is good is not the same as taking it in, and one can sit beside the holy and still cast away what is offered. The mirror turns on the listener, to ask whether mere proximity has been mistaken for change.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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