Discernment, the lamp and the sun
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तों च हीं क्षुल्लकें सखीं सहोदरें । नाहीं विश्वंभरें वोळखी तों ॥1॥
नारायण विश्वंभर विश्वपिता । प्रमाण तो होतां सकळ मिथ्या ॥ध्रु.॥
रवि नुगवे तों दीपिकाचें काज । प्रकाशें तें तेज सहज लोपे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देहसंबंध संचितें । कारण निरुतें नारायणीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
These petty friends and relatives hold sway only so long as the Lord of all has not been recognized. Narayana, the sustainer, the father of the universe: once He becomes the true measure, all else is illusion. Until the sun rises, the lamp has its work to do; but in that greater radiance, its light is naturally extinguished. Says Tuka, all bodily relations are the fruit of accumulated karma. The true cause lies in Narayana alone.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
These petty friends and kinsmen hold their sway only while the Lord of all has not been recognized. Narayana is the sustainer, the father of the universe. Once He becomes the one measure, everything else is false. Until the sun rises, the lamp has its work. In that greater light, the lamp goes out on its own. Tuka says: bodily relations are the fruit of past karma. The true cause is in Narayana alone.
What it means
Tukaram sets ordinary family ties against the one reality and shows which one is borrowed. Petty friends and relatives feel central only as long as Narayana, the sustainer and father of all, has not been recognized; once He is taken as the true measure, everything else shows itself as illusion. He gives the homely image of a lamp: useful in the dark, but the moment the sun rises it is naturally extinguished, not blown out. So too our bodily relations are real enough as fruits of accumulated karma, but they are effects, not the cause. The cause, the thing that does not pass when the light comes, is Narayana alone.
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