Metaphor, the heart closed to the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाळें घातलें सागरीं । बिंदु न राहे भीतरी ॥1॥
तैसें पापियाचें मन । तया नावडे कीर्त्तन ॥ध्रु.॥
गाढव गंगेसी न्हाणिलें। जाउनि उकरडएावरि लोळे ॥2॥
प्रीती पोसिलें काउळें । जाउनि विष्ठेवरी लोळे ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तैसी हरी । कीरव्या नावडे कस्तुरी॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When a net is cast into the sea, not a drop of water stays within it. So is the mind of the wrongdoer, to whom kirtan holds no appeal. Bathe a donkey in the Ganga, and it goes and rolls on the garbage heap. Raise a crow with affection, and it goes and rolls upon filth. Says Tuka, just so, the worm does not care for musk.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Cast a net into the sea, and not a drop of water stays inside it. So is the mind of the wrongdoer: kirtan holds no appeal for it. Bathe a donkey in the Ganga, and it goes off to roll on the rubbish heap. Raise a crow with love, and it goes off to roll in filth. Tuka says: just so, the worm has no taste for musk.
What it means
Tukaram is describing a heart that cannot retain holiness, the way a net cannot hold water. To such a mind, kirtan simply does not appeal; the sacred slides right through. His string of images, the donkey bathed in the Ganga that returns to the garbage, the crow raised with care that seeks out filth, the worm indifferent to fragrant musk, all make one point: even the purest thing offered cannot change a nature that is drawn elsewhere. The verse is less a verdict on others than a mirror: it asks where our own taste truly lies, in the Name or in the rubbish heap.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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