Social criticism, counsel wasted on the closed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उपदेश किती करावा खळासी । नावडे तयासी बरें कांहीं ॥1॥
शुद्ध कां वासना नव्हे चांडाळाची । होळी संचिताची केली तेणें ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं भाव मनीं नाइके वचन । आपला आपण उणें घेतों ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे त्यासी काय व्याली रांड । करी बडबड रिती दिसे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How much should one try to counsel the wicked? Nothing good appeals to them. The impure mind of such a person will not become clean, for he has made a bonfire of his own destiny. There is no devotion in his mind, and he will not heed good counsel. He only brings ruin upon himself. Says Tuka, what kind of mother bore such a one? He babbles endlessly yet remains empty.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How long should one counsel the wicked? Nothing good appeals to them. Why would such an impure mind ever turn clean? He has made a bonfire of his own store of good. There is no faith in his mind; he will not hear good words. He only takes the loss upon himself. Tuka says: what mother bore such a one? He babbles on, and is seen to be empty.
What it means
Tukaram asks a hard question about the limits of counsel: when a heart is shut, advice slides off, and good words find no purchase. The harsh figures are aimed at the pattern, not at a soul to be despised, that a closed mind burns up its own accumulated good and ends the loser by its own refusal. The empty babbling names a real trap: speaking endlessly while taking nothing in. Read inward, it is a warning to examine our own deafness to good counsel before we waste it on others, and to notice when our talk has gone hollow.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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