Grindstone, the unstruck sound
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सावडीं कांडण ओवी नारायण । निवडे आपण भूस सार ॥१॥
मुसळ आधारीं आवरूनि धरीं । सांवरोनि थिरीं घाव घालीं ॥ध्रु.॥
वाजती कांकणें अनुहात गजरें । छंद माहियेरे गाऊं गीति ॥२॥
कांडिता कांडण नव्हे भाग शीण । तुजमजपण निवडे तों ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे रूप उमटे आरिसा । पाक त्या सरिसा शुद्ध जाला ॥४॥
आडसण दळण - अभंग १
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the quiet hours, pound the grain while singing the ovi of Narayana, and the chaff will separate from the grain on its own. Grip the pestle firmly and steady yourself; then strike measured blows. The bangles ring out in the anahata, the unstruck celestial sound; let us sing the songs of our mother's home. While pounding the grain, no share of the labor feels like weariness, not until the sense of "you" and "I" is completely winnowed away. Says Tuka, the form appears in the mirror, and the cooking is done as pure as that reflection.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the quiet hours, pound the grain while singing the ovi of Narayana, and the chaff will fall away from the grain on its own. Grip the pestle firmly, steady yourself, and bring the blows down measured and even. The bangles ring out as the anahata, the unstruck celestial sound, and we sing the songs of our mother's home. While the grain is being pounded, no part of the labor feels like weariness, not until the sense of you and I has been completely winnowed away. Tuka says: the form appears clear in the mirror, and the cooking comes out as pure as that reflection.
What it means
Another grindstone allegory, this one fixed on sound and effortlessness. To pound the grain while singing God's name turns the chore into japa, and then the chaff, the impurity, separates by itself, without forcing. The ringing of the worker's bangles becomes the anahata, the unstruck inner sound heard in deep meditation. The remarkable claim is that the labor stops feeling like labor; it is weariless right up to the moment the sense of you-and-I is winnowed out, which is the goal. And when the heart is clear as a mirror, the result, the cooked dish, the finished self, comes out pure. Work done as remembrance ceases to tire and ends in clarity.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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