Metaphor, no use teaching the closed heart
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कावळ्याच्या गळां मुक्ताफळमाळा । तरी काय त्याला भूषण शोभे ॥1॥
गजालागीं केला कस्तुरीचा लेप । तिचें तो स्वरूप काय जाणे ॥ध्रु.॥
बकापुढें सांगे भावार्थे वचन । वाउगा चि सीण होय त्यासी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तैसे अभाविक जन । त्यांसी वांयां सीण करूं नये ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A garland of pearls around a crow's neck does not make it beautiful. Smearing musk on an elephant does not make it understand the fragrance. Preaching scripture before a heron is wasted effort. Says Tuka, likewise, one should not waste one's energy on faithless people.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A garland of pearls around a crow's neck does not make the crow beautiful. Smear musk on an elephant, and it still does not know the fragrance. Speak words full of meaning before a heron, and it is only wasted effort for you. Tuka says: faithless people are like this; one should not wear oneself out on them in vain.
What it means
Tukaram uses three mismatched images to make a single practical point about teaching. Pearls cannot beautify a crow, musk cannot teach an elephant what fragrance is, and earnest scripture spoken to a heron is breath thrown away. In each case the precious thing is real, but the receiver has no capacity to receive it. The lesson is not contempt but discernment: with a heart closed to faith, even true teaching only exhausts the teacher, so it is wiser to spend that effort where it can take root than to wear yourself out where it cannot.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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