Defiance, lion to the wicked
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अवघ्या कोल्हएांचें वर्म अंडीं । धरितां तोंडीं खीळ पडे ॥1॥
भुंकुं नका भुंकुं नका । आला तुका विष्णुदास ॥ध्रु.॥
कवणे ठायीं सादर व्हावें । नाहीं ठावें गाढवा ॥2॥
दुर्जनासि पंचानन । तुका रजरेणु संतांचा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The secret weakness of all jackals lies in their litters. Seize that, and they are silenced. Stop barking, stop barking. Tuka, the servant of Vishnu, has arrived. A donkey does not know when to show respect. Says Tuka, I am a lion to the wicked, and a grain of dust at the feet of the saints.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The weak spot of all the jackals is in their litter. Take hold of that, and a peg drops into their mouths and silences them. Stop barking, stop barking. Tuka, the servant of Vishnu, has come. Where should you bow with respect? A donkey does not know. Tuka says: to the wicked I am a lion; to the saints I am the dust at their feet.
What it means
Tukaram answers his attackers with a barnyard image: jackals can be silenced if you seize what they are most attached to. He calls his critics barking dogs and tells them to stop, because the servant of Vishnu has arrived and will not be cowed. The donkey that does not know when to show respect is the pattern he names: a heart so coarse it cannot recognize what is holy. He sets his own two faces against each other. Toward arrogant wickedness he is a lion; toward the saints he is willing to be nothing, mere dust at their feet.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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