The saints, beyond compare
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
फिरंगी वाखर लोखंडाचे विळे । परि ते निराळे गुणमोल ॥१॥
पायरी प्रतिमा एक चि पाषाण । परि तें महिमान वेगळालें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तैशा नव्हतील परी । संतजना सरी सारिखिया ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Foreign steel and ordinary iron may look alike, yet their quality and worth are entirely different. A doorstep and a sacred image are both made of the same stone, yet their dignity is worlds apart. Says Tuka, even so, nothing in this world can ever be made equal to the saints.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Foreign steel and an ordinary iron sickle may look alike, yet their quality and worth are wholly different. A doorstep and a holy image are both cut from the same stone, yet their dignity is worlds apart. Tuka says: even so, nothing in this world can be set equal to the saints.
What it means
Tukaram is teaching that sameness of appearance says nothing about true worth. Fine foreign steel and a common iron sickle look like one metal, yet differ utterly in quality; a stone doorstep and a carved deity come from the same rock, yet one is trodden on and the other worshipped. By these pairs he prepares the ear for his real claim: the saints cannot be measured against ordinary people at all. The likeness of human shape hides an incomparable difference, and to rank a saint among common folk is to mistake the doorstep for the image. The verse asks the reader to honor that hidden distinction rather than judge by the surface.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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