Faith versus the hardened heart
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भाव धरी तया तारील पाषाण । दुर्जना सज्जन काय करी ॥१॥
करितां नव्हे नीट श्वानाचें हें पुंस । खापरा परीस काय करी ॥ध्रु.॥
काय करिल तया साकरेचें आळें । बीज तैसीं फळें येती तया ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे वज्र भंगे एक वेळ । कठीण हा खळ तयाहूनी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who holds sincere faith can be saved even by a stone, but what can even a saint do for the wicked? A dog's tail can never be straightened; what can the philosopher's stone do for a broken pot? What good is a field of sugarcane to one who cannot taste its sweetness? The fruit that comes is always according to the seed that was sown. Says Tuka, even a thunderbolt may crack once, but the hardened scoundrel is tougher still.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
One who holds faith can be carried across even by a stone. But what can a good man do for the wicked? A dog's tail cannot be made straight; what use is the philosopher's stone to a broken shard of clay? What good is a bed of sugarcane to one who cannot taste sweetness? The fruit always comes according to the seed. Tuka says: a thunderbolt may crack once, but the hardened scoundrel is harder than that.
What it means
Tukaram measures two soils against the same grace. Where there is sincere faith, even a stone can ferry a soul across, but where the heart is closed, neither a saint nor the philosopher's stone can transform it, just as a potsherd cannot be turned to gold or a dog's tail made straight. His point is about the seed: the fruit a person bears matches what is sown in them. The closing line lands the claim on the pattern of stubbornness itself, harder than a thunderbolt, urging the listener to soften the ground of their own heart rather than blame the rain that finds no soil to enter.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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