Warning against the counterfeit, gold over copper
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सोनें दावी वरी तांबें तयापोटीं । खरियाचे साटीं विकुं पाहे ॥1॥
पारखी तो जाणे तयाचे जीवींचें । निवडी दोहींचें वेगळालें ॥ध्रु.॥
क्षीरा नीरा कैसें होय एकपण । स्वादीं तो चि भिन्न भिन्न काढी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे थीता नागवला चि खोटा । अपमान मोटा पावईल ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One shows gold on the surface but hides copper within, hoping to sell it for the price of the real thing. But the expert assayer knows the inner truth of his jiva and separates the two apart. Just as milk and water may seem one, the one who discerns the taste separates them out. Says Tuka, the one who stands firm in falsehood is already exposed. Great dishonor shall befall him.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
One shows gold on the surface but hides copper inside, hoping to sell it for the price of the real thing. But the assayer knows the inner truth of his soul and separates the two apart. Milk and water may look like one thing; the one who tastes them separates them out. Tuka says: the one who stands firm in falsehood is already exposed. Great dishonor will come to him.
What it means
Tukaram is warning against the pretense of holiness, the copper hidden under a coat of gold. The point is the assayer: there is one who tests, and the surface plating fools no one who knows how to look within. As a taster separates milk from water, the truth of a person's inner life is told apart from the show they put on. The warning is not contempt for the pretender but a hard fact about the pretense: false coin passes only until it meets the test, and then comes shame. Read against oneself, it asks where one is plating over copper and calling it gold.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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