Time and grace, carried across
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
त्रिपुटीच्या योगें । कांहीं नव्हे कोणां जोगें । एक जातां लागें । एक पाठीं लागतें ॥1॥
मागें पुढें अवघा काळ । पळों नये न चले बळ । करितां कोल्हाळ । कृपे खांदां हरि वाहे ॥ध्रु.॥
पापपुण्यात्मयाच्या शक्ती । असती योजिल्या श्रीपती । यावें काकुलती। तेथें सत्तानायेका ॥2॥
तुका उभा पैल थडी । तरि हे प्रकाश निवडी । घातल्या सांगडी । तापे पेटीं हाकारी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Bound by the triputi, nothing is fully within anyone's grasp. When one passes, another follows at your heels. Before and behind, Time looms everywhere. One cannot flee, and force is of no use. Even amid the clamor, compassionate Hari carries you upon His shoulders. The powers of sin and virtue are arranged by God Himself. One must plead before the sovereign Lord. Says Tuka, I stand on the farther shore. By the light of discernment and the raft He provides, He calls out from within the burning chest.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Bound by the three, nothing is fully in anyone's hold. When one thing passes, another follows at your heels. Behind and ahead, Time stands everywhere. You cannot run, and force does no good. Even in the uproar, compassionate Hari carries you on His shoulders. The powers of sin and virtue are arranged by God Himself. One must plead before the sovereign Lord. Tuka says: I stand on the far shore. By the light of discernment and the raft He gives, He calls out from within the burning chest.
What it means
Tukaram lays out the trap of conditioned existence and then names the only way out. Caught in the triputi of knower, knowing, and known, no one truly owns anything; one trouble passes only for the next to take its place, and Time hems us in front and back so that neither flight nor force can save us. Since even the workings of sin and virtue are set up by God, the sane response is not struggle but pleading before the sovereign Lord. The rescue is entirely grace: compassionate Hari lifts you onto His own shoulders, gives the raft of discernment, and calls out to you even from inside the burning heart of your distress, until you reach the far shore.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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