Nature of God, Hari and Hara are one
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हरिहरां भेद । नाहीं करूं नये वाद ॥१॥
एक एकाचे हृदयीं । गोडी साखरेच्या ठायीं ॥ध्रु.॥
भेदकासी नाड । एक वेलांटी च आड ॥२॥
उजवें वामांग । तुका म्हणे एक चि अंग ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Between Hari and Hara there is no difference; do not quarrel over this. Each dwells in the heart of the other, like sweetness within sugar. For the one who insists on division, even a single vowel mark brings ruin. Says Tuka, left side and right side are still one body.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Between Hari and Hara there is no real difference; do not waste breath quarreling over it. Each lives in the heart of the other, the way sweetness lives inside sugar. For the man who insists on dividing them, even a single vowel mark becomes a stumbling-block. Tuka says: the left side and the right side are still one body.
What it means
Tukaram steps into the old sectarian quarrel between the followers of Vishnu, called Hari, and Shiva, called Hara, and dismisses it. The two are not two; each dwells in the other as sweetness dwells in sugar, inseparable. The person who insists on a difference trips over the smallest thing, a single vowel mark, because his whole project is division for its own sake. The closing image settles it: left and right are different sides, but one body. To set the gods against each other is to fight one's own limbs.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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