The saints' power, the wicked made spotless
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गाढवाचे घोडे । आह्मी करूं दृष्टीपुढें ॥1॥
चघळी वाहाणा । माघारिया बांडा सुना ॥ध्रु.॥
तुका ह्मणे खळ । करूं समयीं निर्मळ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We can turn donkeys into horses right before your eyes. A dog that chews old shoes, a stubborn barren hound, we can purify. Says Tuka, we can make even the wicked spotless at the right moment.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We can turn donkeys into horses, right before your eyes. The dog that chews old sandals, the stubborn worthless hound, we can change them. Tuka says: we make even the wicked spotless, in the right moment.
What it means
Tukaram is claiming, in the voice of the saints, that their company can transform anyone. The rough images, a donkey becoming a horse, a shoe-chewing stray dog being purified, stand for people the world has written off as base and incorrigible. The boast is not arrogance about themselves but confidence in what holy company does to a person. The phrase about the right moment matters: the change is real but it comes when the time is ripe, not by force. The point for the listener is that no one is too low to be lifted, so do not despair of yourself or of anyone.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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