Nondual play, the spectacle of forms
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नटनाटए तुह्मी केलें याच साटीं । कवतुकें दृष्टी निववावी ॥1॥
नाहीं तरि काय कळलें चि आहे । वाघ आणि गाय लांकडाची ॥ध्रु.॥
अभेद चि असे मांडियेलें खेळा । केल्या दीपकळा बहुएकी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे रूप नाहीं दर्पणांत । संतोषाची मात दुसरें तें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You have staged this drama and pageant so that our eyes might be delighted by the spectacle. Otherwise, we already know the truth: the tiger and the cow are both made of wood. The undivided is set forth as play, and one light has been displayed as many lamps. Says Tuka, the image in the mirror is not the reality; the joy it brings is something else altogether.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You staged this whole drama and pageant for one reason: so our eyes would delight in the show. Otherwise we already know the truth. The tiger and the cow are both carved of wood. The undivided One is set out as a game. One light is shown as many lamps. Tuka says: the image in the mirror is not the thing itself. The joy of watching it is something else.
What it means
Tukaram looks at the whole created world as a play God puts on for the pleasure of seeing it, not because it is finally separate from God. He gives the carver's image: the fierce tiger and the gentle cow are different shapes, but the same wood. So with all forms; one undivided reality is displayed as many, the way a single flame is shown in many lamps. The point is not to despise the spectacle but to know what it is: a reflection in a mirror, beautiful, yet not the substance. Knowing this, the delight remains, but you no longer mistake the show for the real.
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