Metaphor, the angry dog
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
श्वान शीघ्रकोपी । आपणा घातकर पापी ॥१॥
नाहीं भीड आणि धीर । उपदेश न जिरे क्षीर ॥ध्रु. ॥
माणसांसि भुंके । विजातीनें द्यावे थुंके ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे चित्त । मळिण करा तें फजित ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The dog is quick to anger. The sinful creature strikes itself. It has no sense of shame, no patience. The milk of instruction it cannot digest. It barks at human beings. Those of a different species spit upon it. Says Tuka, one whose chitta is soiled brings disgrace upon himself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The dog is quick to anger, a wretched thing that harms itself. It has no shame and no patience; the milk of good advice it cannot keep down. It barks at people, and creatures of another kind only spit on it. Tuka says: in the same way, whoever lets his heart grow soiled brings disgrace on himself.
What it means
A small, sharp parable. The bad-tempered dog is the image of an unrestrained, soiled mind: quick to rage, shameless, unable to absorb good counsel the way a sick stomach cannot keep down milk, snapping at everyone and earning only contempt in return. Tukaram's point lands in the last line, and it turns the gaze inward: a mind let go to bitterness disgraces no one but its owner. The animal is not the target; it is a warning picture of what an ungoverned heart becomes.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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