Abhanga 4257
Advice given to a closed, proud mind is wasted effort, like putting fine sandalwood on a donkey, and only tires you out without changing anything.
The verse
अधमाचें चत्ति अहंकारीं मन । उपदेश शीण तया केला ॥१॥
पापियाचें मन न करी आचार । विधवे शृंगार व्यर्थ केला ॥ध्रु.॥
अधमाचें चत्ति दुश्चित्त ऐकेना । वांयां सीण मना करूं काय ॥२॥
गर्धबासी दिली चंदनाची उटी । केशर लल्हाटीं शुकराच्या॥३॥
पतिवंचकेसी सांगतां उदंड । परि तें पाषांड तिचे मनीं ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे तैसें अभावीं सांगतां । वाउगा चि चित्ति सीण होय ॥५॥
Literal translation
Adhama's-chitta-ahankārī — upadeśa-sīṇa. Pāpī-doesn't-do-ācāra — widow-śrngāra-vyartha. Adhama-doesn't-listen — vāuga-sīṇa. Donkey-chandana-uṭi — pig-saffron-forehead. Pativamchakā-told-much — thinks-pāṣāṇḍa. Tukā: telling-abhāvī — vaugā-sīṇa-in-chitti.
What it means
THE canonical 5-image instructional-futility polemic. The adhama's heart — the mind is proud; to give him instruction is fatigue. The sinner's mind doesn't do right-conduct; making ornament-decoration on a widow is useless. The adhama's heart doesn't listen; in-vain is fatigue to the mind — what to do? Giving sandalwood-paste-application to a donkey; applying saffron to a pig's forehead. Telling the faithless-wife much — but in her mind it's taken as heresy. Tukā says: thus, telling the faithless — just-uselessly fatigue happens in the heart. The 5-image diagnostic of futile-instruction: (1) widow-with-śrngāra (widowed-women didn't wear ornaments in 17th-c Marathi-Brahmin culture — culturally-anachronistic gesture); (2) donkey-given-chandana-uṭi (waste-of-precious-sandal); (3) pig-saffron-on-forehead (waste-of-precious-saffron); (4) faithless-wife-told-much (interpreted as heresy); (5) generalization to abhāvī-instruction. Standard early-modern Marathi list. Pair with 4202 (gavhāra-jñāna-rajōguṇa), 4196 (santas-vimukha-sanga).
For someone today
Tukaram gives a string of blunt images for why advice fails on a closed mind. A proud heart just gets tired of being taught, and someone who has no interest in doing right will not change because you dress the message up nicely. He compares it to putting fine sandalwood paste on a donkey or rubbing saffron on a pig's forehead, precious things wasted on a creature that cannot appreciate them, or like trying to reason at length with someone who has already decided not to listen, who hears only stubbornness in return. In the end, Tukaram says, trying to teach someone who simply will not receive it just leaves you exhausted for nothing.
मराठी: तुकाराम बंद मनावर उपदेश का निष्फळ ठरतो, याची काही धारदार उदाहरणं देतात. गर्विष्ठ मन शिकवण ऐकून ऐकून थकून जातं, आणि जो माणूस मुळातच नीट वागायला तयार नाही, तो कितीही गोड शब्दांत सांगितलं तरी बदलत नाही. ते याची तुलना गाढवाला चंदनाची उटी लावण्याशी किंवा डुकराच्या कपाळावर केशर लावण्याशी करतात, म्हणजे मौल्यवान गोष्टी अशा जीवावर वाया जातात ज्याला त्याची किंमतच कळत नाही, किंवा ज्याने आधीच ऐकायचं नाही असं ठरवलं आहे त्याच्याशी खूप बोलण्याशी करतात, ज्याच्या मनात त्यातून फक्त हट्टच उरतो. शेवटी तुकाराम म्हणतात, जो ऐकायलाच तयार नाही त्याला शिकवायचा प्रयत्न केला की फक्त उगीच थकवा येतो, दुसरं काही मिळत नाही.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE 5-image instructional-futility polemic canonical