Worldly life, the wicked torment the saints
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय केलें जळचरीं । ढीवर त्यांच्या घातावरी ॥1॥
हा तों ठायींचा विचार । आहे यातिवैराकार ॥ध्रु.॥
श्वापदातें वधी । निरपराधें पारधी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे खळ । संतां पीडिती चांडाळ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What have the fish ever done wrong? Yet the fisherman preys upon them all the same. This is simply the nature of things, the ancient pattern of hostility between species. The hunter kills innocent wild animals without cause. Says Tuka, likewise the wicked torment the saints, those wretched ones who torment.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What wrong did the fish do? Yet the fisherman is set on killing them. This is the way of things from the start; there is an inborn enmity by kind. The hunter kills the wild beast, though it has done no wrong. Tuka says: just so, the wicked, the vile ones, torment the saints.
What it means
Tukaram is explaining why the good are persecuted, and he refuses to make it a mystery. The fish did nothing to the fisherman, the beast did nothing to the hunter, yet each is hunted: there is a built-in hostility between certain kinds. He places the saints in this pattern. The wicked torment them not because the saints have wronged anyone, but because tormenting the innocent is simply what such cruelty does. The lesson is not hatred of the cruel but clear sight: do not look for a cause in the victim where there is none.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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