The crooked stay crooked, harming the good
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
इंद्रावणा केलें साकरेचें आळें । न सांडी वेगळें कडुपण ॥1॥
कावळ्याचें पिलूं कौतुकें पोशिलें । न राहे उगलें विष्ठेविण ॥ध्रु.॥
क्षेम देतां अंगा गांधेलाची पोळी । करवी नादाळी महाशब्द ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसे न होती ते भले । घालिती ते घाले साधुजना ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if you raise the bitter gourd in a bed of sugar, it will not give up its bitterness. Even if you lovingly raise a crow's chick, it will not stop eating filth. If you embrace a branded bull, it will kick and make a terrible noise. Says Tuka, those who are not truly good will not become so; they will only cause harm to the saintly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Raise a bitter gourd in a bed of sugar; it will not give up its bitterness. Lovingly raise a crow's chick; it still will not leave off eating filth. Embrace a branded bull and it kicks and bellows a fearful noise. Tuka says: such people do not turn good. They only strike blows at the holy.
What it means
Tukaram uses three plain images to say that some natures will not be reformed by kindness. The bitter gourd keeps its bitterness even when grown in sugar; the crow's chick still feeds on filth no matter how well it is raised; the vicious bull kicks even at an embrace. He applies this to people whose hearts are set against goodness: gentleness does not soften them, and they repay the saintly with injury. The point is sober rather than contemptuous, a warning to recognize a hardened pattern and not expect it to change of itself.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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