Nature of God, the hidden witness
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
घटीं अलिप्त असे रवि । अिग्न काष्ठामाजी जेवी । तैसा नारायण जीवीं । जीवसाक्षीवर्तनें ॥1॥
भोग ज्याचे तया अंगीं । भिन्न प्रारब्ध जगीं । विचित्र ये रंगीं । रंगें रंगला गोसावी ॥ध्रु.॥
देह संकल्पासारिखें । एक एकांसी पारिखें । सुख आणि दुःखें । अंगी कर्में त्रिविध ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कोडें । न कळे तयासी सांकडें । त्याचिया निवाडें । उगवे केलें विंदान ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
As the sun remains untouched by the water in a pot, as fire dwells hidden within wood, so does Narayana dwell within the jiva, moving as the witness of the jiva. Each one's experience belongs to their own body; destinies are varied in this world. The Lord is colored by color within this spectacle, dressed as the Gosavi. The body follows the pattern of one's own sankalpa; each is a stranger to the other. Pleasure and suffering come from one's own threefold karma. Says Tuka, this puzzle cannot be grasped by anyone. Only by his own judgment is the intricate design revealed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
As the sun stays untouched by the water in a pot, as fire lies hidden inside wood, so Narayana dwells within the living being, moving there as the witness of the being. Each one's experience belongs to his own body; in this world the destinies are different. The Lord is colored by the colors of this spectacle, dressed up as the Gosavi. The body follows the shape of one's own will; each is a stranger to the other. Pleasure and pain come from one's own threefold karma. Tuka says: this puzzle cannot be solved by anyone. Only by his own decision is the intricate design undone.
What it means
Tukaram describes how God lives inside every creature without being caught by what the creature goes through. Like the sun reflected in pot-water or fire latent in wood, Narayana dwells in the living being as a witness, present but untouched. Yet that same Lord seems to take on every role, wearing the costumes of the world's drama, while each body reaps the pleasure and pain of its own karma and stays a stranger to the rest. He admits the riddle of how the one untouched witness becomes all these separate, suffering selves cannot be cracked by human cleverness. Only God, who set up the design, can unravel it.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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