Worldly life, the counterfeit gain
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मुदल जतन जालें । मग लाभाचें काय आलें ॥1॥
घरीं देउनि अंतर गांठी । राख्या पारिख्यां न सुटे मिठी ॥ध्रु.॥
घाला पडे थोडें च वाटे । काम मैंदाचें च पेटे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वरदळ खोटें । फांसे अंतरिंच्या कपटें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When the principal has been kept intact, what profit has actually come? One hands over the valuables at home and cannot free oneself from the grip of keepers and appraisers. Though the loss seems small, the fire of soft desire keeps smouldering. Says Tuka, the surface is counterfeit, and the deceit within lays its traps.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the principal has only been kept intact, what profit has really come? You hand over the valuables in your house and cannot pull free from the grip of the keepers and appraisers. The loss looks small, yet the fire of soft desire keeps smouldering. Tuka says: the surface is counterfeit, and the deceit within sets its traps.
What it means
Tukaram uses the language of trade and lending to expose worldly life as a bad deal. Merely preserving your capital, the bare span of your life, yields no real profit if you gain nothing of God. You surrender your true valuables and find yourself unable to escape the grip of the people and appetites that hold them. The danger is that the loss seems trivial while a quiet smouldering desire keeps burning; he warns that the whole attractive surface is counterfeit and the deceit hidden inside it is what lays the traps.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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