Metaphor, the diamond on the anvil
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हिरा ठेवितां ऐरणीं । वांचे मारितां जो घणीं ॥१॥
तोचि मोल पावे खरा । करणीचा होय चुरा ॥ध्रु.॥
मोहरा होय तोचि अंगें । सूत न जळे ज्याचे संगें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तोचि संत । सोसी जगाचे आघात ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A diamond placed upon the anvil survives the blows of the hammer. That alone fetches its true worth; the imitation is crushed to dust. That alone becomes the touchstone: the thread does not burn in its company. Tuka says: that alone is a saint who endures the blows of the world.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A diamond laid on the anvil takes the hammer's blows and survives. That alone proves its true worth, while the fake is pounded to dust. That alone is the touchstone, the gold beside which the thread does not burn. Tuka says: just so, only that one is a saint who bears the blows of the world.
What it means
A test made of metaphors. A real diamond survives the hammer that shatters an imitation; true gold does not catch fire. Tukaram uses these to define a saint not by serenity in comfort but by what survives pressure. The mark of the real one is endurance: he takes the world's blows, its scorn and cruelty, and is neither destroyed nor coarsened by them. Saintliness, here, is proven on the anvil, not in the showcase.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
More in this theme →