Social criticism, no high or low before God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शुद्धाशुद्ध निवडे कैसें । चर्म मास भिन्न नाहीं ॥1॥
कांहीं अधिक नाहीं उणें । कवण्या गुणें देवासी ॥ध्रु.॥
उदक भिन्न असे काई । वाहाळ बावी सरिता नई ॥2॥
सूर्य तेजें निवडी काय। रश्मी रसा सकळा खाय ॥3॥
वर्णां भिन्न दुधा नाहीं । सकळा गाई सारखें ॥4॥
करितां भिन्न नाहीं माती । मडक्या गति भिन्न नांवें॥5॥
वर्त्ते एकविध अिग्न । नाहीं मनीं शुद्धाशुद्ध ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे पात्र चाड । किंवा विसें अमृत गोड ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How can pure and impure be distinguished when skin and flesh are one and the same? By what quality is anything more or less before God? Is water different in a stream, a well, a river, or a great waterway? Does the sun distinguish with its light, when its rays feed all alike? Milk is not different by the color of the cow; all cows give the same. Clay is one and the same; only the pots bear different names. Fire burns in a single manner, knowing no pure or impure. Says Tuka, what matters is the vessel's worthiness, or else nectar itself tastes like poison.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How can pure and impure be told apart, when skin and flesh are one and the same? Nothing is more, nothing is less. By what quality could anything be higher before God? Is water different in a stream, a well, a river, a great waterway? Does the sun sort things out with its light, when its rays feed them all alike? Milk is not different by the color of the cow; every cow gives the same. The clay is one and the same; only the pots get different names. Fire burns in one way and knows no pure or impure. Tuka says: what matters is whether the vessel is fit. Otherwise even nectar will taste like poison.
What it means
Tukaram is denying that caste and birth make any difference before God. He runs through plain things that do not sort or rank: water is water in stream or well, sunlight feeds all alike, milk is the same whatever the color of the cow, clay is one though the pots are named differently, fire burns without asking what is pure. By the same logic, skin and flesh are common to everyone, so the labels of high and low are hollow. The one real distinction he allows is inward fitness: a worthy vessel receives the nectar, while an unworthy heart turns even nectar to poison.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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