Nature of God, the body is time's toy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पंचभूतांचा गोंधळ । केला एकेठायीं मेळ । लाविला सबळ । अहंकार त्यापाठीं ॥1॥
तेथें काय मी तें माझें । कोण वागवी हें ओझें । देहा केवीं रिझे । हें काळाचें भातुकें ॥ध्रु.॥
जीव न देखे मरण । धरी नवी सांडी जीर्ण । संचित प्रमाण । भोगा शुभा अशुभा ॥2॥
इच्छा वाढवी ते वेल । खुंटावा तो खरा बोल । तुका ह्मणे मोल । झाकलें तें पावेल ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The five elements have been gathered in tumult, thrown together in one place. Behind them, a powerful ahamkar has been set. What is "I" or "mine" in all this? Who carries this burden? Why should one delight in a body that is merely time's plaything? The jiva does not see death. It sheds the worn and takes up the new. Accumulated karma is the measure: whether experience is auspicious or inauspicious. Desire keeps extending its vine. The true word is what cuts it at the root. Says Tuka, what lies hidden shall be attained.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The five elements were gathered in a tumult and joined together in one place, and behind them a strong sense of I was set. What in this is I or mine? Who carries this burden? Why delight in a body that is only time's plaything? The soul does not see death; it takes a new body and drops the worn-out one. The stored-up karma is the measure of what it must undergo, good or bad. Desire keeps stretching out its vine. The true word is what cuts it at the root. Tuka says: what lies hidden shall be reached.
What it means
Tukaram looks at the body as a temporary heap and asks who is really there to claim it. The five elements were thrown together and an ego attached behind them, so the I and the mine have no solid owner; the body is only time's toy. The soul, not seeing its own death, simply trades the old body for a new one, and the karma it has stored decides what it will suffer or enjoy. The one thing worth doing is to cut the climbing vine of desire at the root with the true word. When that craving is cut, what was hidden, the real self, is finally reached.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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