Metaphor, the riddle of I and mine
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कोडें रे कोडें ऐका हें कोडें । उगवूनि फार राहे गुंतोनियां थोडें ॥१॥
पुसतसे सांगा मी हें माझें ऐसें काई । रुसूं नका नुगवे तो झवे आपुली आई ॥ध्रु.॥
सांगतों हें मूळ काहीं न धरावी खंती । ज्यालें ज्यवो मेलें मरो प्रारब्धा हातीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे अभिमान सांडावा सकळीं । नये अंगावरी वांयां येऊं देऊं कळी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A riddle, a riddle, hear this riddle: so much is solved, yet tangled over a trifle. I ask you, tell me: is this "I" and "mine" truly real? Do not be cross; if you cannot solve it, go ask your own mother. I tell you the root of it: hold no grief in your heart. What lives, let it live; what dies, let it die. All is in the hands of destiny. Says Tuka: let everyone abandon pride. Do not invite strife upon yourself for nothing.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A riddle, a riddle, listen to this riddle: so much of it gets solved, and then you stay tangled over one small thing. I ask you, tell me plainly: is this I and this mine actually real? Do not take offense; if you cannot work it out, go and ask your own mother. I will tell you the root of the matter, so hold no grief in your heart: let what lives go on living, let what dies die; it is all in the hands of destiny. Tuka says: let everyone set pride aside, and do not go inviting strife down on yourself for nothing.
What it means
Tukaram poses the whole human problem as a riddle with one stubborn knot. A person may untangle a great deal and still stay caught on a single small thing, and that thing is the assumption I and mine. He asks, almost teasingly, whether that I and mine were ever real at all. His answer, the root of the riddle, is the counsel of equanimity and surrender: grieve over nothing, let living things live and dying things die, since all of it rests with destiny, not with you. And the practical key is to drop pride, the great defender of I and mine, and stop manufacturing conflict over what was never yours to control.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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