Metaphor, God meets each as they hold Him
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जीव जीती जीवना संगें । मत्स्या मरण त्या वियोगें॥1॥
जया चित्तीं जैसा भाव । तयां जविळ तैसा देव ॥ध्रु.॥
सकळां पाडीये भानु । परि त्या कमळाचें जीवनु ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माता । वाहे तान्हे याची चिंता ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Fish live by the water; to be parted from it is their death. As the faith in one's chitta, so is God near to each. The sun shines equally upon all, yet it is the life of the lotus alone. Says Tuka, a mother bears the burden of worry for her nursing child.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Fish live by the water; to be parted from it is their death. As the faith in one's heart, so is God near to that person. The sun shines equally on all, yet it is the life of the lotus alone. Tuka says: a mother carries the worry for her nursing child.
What it means
Tukaram uses three plain images to say that God answers each soul in the measure of its longing. The fish lives only in the water and dies when parted from it, so a heart cannot live cut off from God. The sun falls on everything alike, yet it is the lotus, which opens to it, that draws its very life from the sun; God is near to each according to the faith they hold. The last image turns it tender: as a mother bears the constant worry for the child still at her breast, so God carries the helpless devotee. The nearness is real, but it answers the trust we bring.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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