Satire, the wrong thing in the wrong place
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुगरणीबाई थिता नास केला । गुळ तो घातला भाजीमध्यें ॥1॥
क्षीरीमध्यें हिंग दुधामध्यें बोळ । थितें चि वोंगळ कैसें केलें ॥ध्रु.॥
दळण दळोनी भरूं गेली पाळी । भरडोनि वोंगळी नास केला ॥2॥
कापुराचे सांते आणिला लसण । वागवितां सीण दुःख होय ॥3॥
रत्नाचा जोहारी रत्न चि पारखी । येर देखोदेखीं हातीं घेती ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे जरी योग घडे निका । न घडतां थुंका तोंडावरी ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A good cook has ruined everything by putting jaggery into the vegetable dish, adding asafoetida to the rice pudding, and dropping resin into the milk. What was perfectly fine has been made revolting. After grinding the flour, she went to fill the mortar and instead made coarse mash, ruining the whole thing. She brought garlic to a market that trades in camphor. Carrying such a thing around brings only distress. Only a true jeweler can appraise a gem; others merely handle stones by imitation. Says Tuka, if the match is right, it is well. If not, spit upon the whole affair.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A good cook ruined what was fine. She put jaggery in the vegetables. She put asafoetida in the rice pudding, and resin in the milk. What was perfectly good she made disgusting. She ground the flour, went to fill the mortar, and made coarse mash instead, spoiling the lot. She brought garlic to a market that trades in camphor. To carry such a thing about brings only trouble and pain. Only a true jeweler can judge a gem. Others just handle stones because they see others do it. Tuka says: if the match is right, it is well. If it is not, spit on the whole affair.
What it means
Tukaram piles up images of competent people putting the right thing in exactly the wrong place: sweetness fouling a savory dish, garlic hawked where only camphor is prized. The point is fitness, not effort; skill aimed wrongly produces something revolting, and grinding well still yields mash if you mishandle the next step. Behind the kitchen joke is discernment in spiritual life: only the true jeweler can tell a gem, while others merely imitate, handling stones they cannot value. He ends bluntly, that a thing is worth keeping only if it truly fits, and worth nothing if it does not. The mirror he holds up asks whether our own devotion is well-matched or just imitation handled out of place.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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