Metaphor, the counterfeit exposed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तांबगी हें नाणें न चले खया मोलें । जरी हिंडविलें देशोदेशीं ॥1॥
करणीचें कांहीं न मने सज्जना । यावें लागे मना वृद्धांचिया ॥ध्रु.॥
हिरयासारिका दिसे शिरगोळा । पारखी ते डोळां न पाहाती ॥2॥
देऊनियां भिंग कामाविलें मोतीं । पारखिया हातीं घेतां नये ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे काय नटोनियां व्यर्थ । आपुलें हें चित्त आपणा ग्वाही ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A copper coin will not pass for true currency, no matter how far you carry it. Actions that do not satisfy the wise are worthless; one must win the approval of the elders. Glass may look like a diamond, but experts will not give it a second glance. A false pearl made with a coating cannot pass through a jeweler's hands. Says Tuka, what use is dressing up in vain? Your own conscience is your true witness.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A copper coin will not pass as real money, no matter how far you carry it across the land. Whatever the good do not accept counts for nothing; you must win the mind of the elders. Glass can look like a diamond, but the expert will not even glance at it. Coat a bead in foil and call it a pearl; it cannot pass through the jeweler's hands. Tuka says: what use is dressing yourself up in vain? Your own heart is your witness.
What it means
Tukaram tests false piety the way a market tests coin and gem. A copper piece, glass cut like a diamond, a foiled bead sold as a pearl: each may travel far and fool the crowd, but it fails the one who actually knows. So with a man's conduct; the approval of the wise and the elders is the assay that matters, not the size of the audience taken in. The point lands inward: there is no use dressing up an empty life, because your own conscience already knows what you are, and it is the witness you cannot bribe.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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