Abhanga 4039
Wisdom offered to a closed-off or unfit heart is wasted, like trying to cook in a cracked pot or fill an upside-down pot with water.
The verse
खोंकरी आधन होय पाकसिद्धी । हें तों घडों कधीं शके चि ना ॥१॥
खापराचे अंगीं घासितां परिस । न पालटे कीस काढिलिया ॥२॥
पालथे घागरी रिचवितां जळ । तुका म्हणे खळ तैसे कथे ॥३॥
Literal translation
Khōnkarī ādhana hōya pāka-siddhī — can a chipped pot achieve pāka-siddhi; he tōm ghaḍōm kadhī śake chi nā — that never possibly comes-to-pass. Khāparāñce angīm ghāsitām parisa — rubbing pāris on the body of a potsherd; na pālṭe kīsa kāḍhiliyā — the filing brought-out does-not change (to gold). Pālathe ghāgarī richavitām jaḷa — pouring water into an upside-down pot; Tukā mhaṇe khaḷa taise kathe — Tukā says: such is kathā with khaḷas.
What it means
A striking 3-verse parable by Tukārām.
3 images of futility: 1. Chipped pot can't cook a perfect meal 2. Pāris on potsherd doesn't transmute it to gold — the touchstone-of-Name-bhakti can't transform a corrupted-vessel 3. Pouring water into upside-down pot — the discourse pours-out without-being-held
Application: kathā (sacred-discourse) told-to-khaḷa is-like-these — futile. The vessel-(of-the-listener) must-be-fit; otherwise the-pāris of-bhakti and-the-water of-kathā fail.
For someone today
Tukaram offers three sharp images for why some effort simply does not work. A cracked cooking pot can never produce a properly cooked meal, no matter how good the ingredients are. Rubbing a magic touchstone against a broken shard of pottery will not turn it into gold. And pouring water into an upside-down pot means the water just runs off, none of it stays. In the same way, he says, sharing sacred teaching with someone who is closed off or corrupt in heart is wasted effort, because the message needs a receptive vessel to actually take hold.
मराठी: तुकाराम तीन तीक्ष्ण उदाहरणे देतात, काही प्रयत्न का निष्फळ ठरतात हे दाखवण्यासाठी. फुटका स्वयंपाकाचा भांडा कितीही चांगले जिन्नस असले तरी नीट शिजवू शकत नाही. फुटक्या खापरावर परिस घासला तरी तो सोने बनत नाही. आणि उपडे घागर उभे केले तर त्यात पाणी ओतले तरी ते साठतच नाही, वाहून जाते. त्याचप्रमाणे, बंद मनाच्या किंवा दुष्ट व्यक्तीला पवित्र उपदेश सांगणे हा निष्फळ प्रयत्न आहे, कारण संदेश टिकण्यासाठी योग्य पात्र लागते.
Where this applies
- When you keep giving good advice to someone who never seems to absorb it
- When you notice your effort is wasted on a situation or person that is not ready to receive it
- When you are frustrated that wisdom or kindness does not seem to stick with certain people
- When you need to recognize that readiness matters as much as the quality of what you are offering