Exhortation, leave the wicked company
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जीवन हे मुक्त नर जाले पावन । तजा हो दुर्जनसंगति ही ॥1॥
बहुत अन्न विष मोहरीच्या मानें । अवघें चि तेणें विष होय ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जेणें आपलें स्वहित । तैसी करीं नीत विचारूनि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Living beings are liberated; people are made holy and pure. By this alone: abandon the company of the wicked. A great quantity of food with even a mustard seed's measure of poison in it: all of it becomes poison entire. Says Tuka, consider carefully what serves your own true welfare, and act accordingly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Living beings are set free; people are made pure. By this one thing: give up the company of the wicked. A great heap of food with even a mustard seed of poison in it: all of it turns to poison. Tuka says: think carefully about what truly serves your own good, and act that way.
What it means
Tukaram makes a single practical demand: leave the company of the wicked, for that one step is what makes people pure and frees them. He drives it home with a sharp image: a huge amount of good food is wholly ruined by even a mustard seed's worth of poison. So too a little bad company can spoil a whole life, no matter how much good is mixed in. The closing line turns it back on the listener as a matter of clear-eyed self-interest: weigh what really serves your own welfare, and let your conduct follow that judgment.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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