Satire, teaching the unwilling
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
रासभ धुतला महा तीर्थांमाजी । नव्हे जैसा तेजी शामकर्ण ॥1॥
तेवीं खळा काय केला उपदेश । नव्हे चि मानस शुद्ध त्याचें ॥ध्रु.॥
सर्पासी पाजिलें शर्करापीयूष । अंतरींचें विष जाऊं नेणे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे श्वाना िक्षरीचें भोजन । सवें चि वमन जेवी तया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if a donkey is bathed in the holiest waters, it does not become a fine horse. Likewise, what good is teaching to a wicked person? His mind can never be made pure. Even if a serpent is fed sugar and nectar, the venom within will not depart. Says Tuka, even if a dog is fed a meal of milk and rice, it vomits it up right away.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Wash a donkey in the holiest waters, and it still does not become a noble black-eared horse. In the same way, what use is teaching to a wicked man? His mind is never made pure by it. Feed a serpent sugar and nectar, and the venom inside it does not leave. Tuka says: feed a dog a meal of milk and rice, and it vomits it up at once.
What it means
Tukaram is pressing the point that instruction alone cannot transform a heart that will not be changed. A donkey bathed in sacred rivers is still a donkey; teaching poured over a hardened mind does not purify it. The deeper image is the serpent fed nectar, whose inner poison stays poison, and the dog that throws up the very meal it is given. The teaching is not contempt for these people but a warning about a real possibility in oneself. Outer exposure to truth, holy water, sweet food, good words, accomplishes nothing if the inside is set against it; what must change is the inner nature, not the input.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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