Worldly life, craving never rests
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जरी आलें राज्य मोळविक्या हातां । तरी तो मागुता व्यवसायी ॥1॥
तृष्णेचीं मंजुरें नेणती विसांवा । वाढें हांव हांवां काम कामीं ॥ध्रु.॥
वैभवाचीं सुखें नातळतां अंगा । चिंता करी भोगा विघ्न जाळी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वाहे मरणाचें भय । रक्षणउपाय करूनि असे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if a kingdom falls into the hands of a bundle-carrier, he returns to his old trade. The offspring of craving know no rest; desire breeds desire, and work breeds more work. The pleasures of wealth do not touch the body; worry about their enjoyment burns like a fire of obstacles. Says Tuka, such a one lives in the fear of death, constantly guarding and scheming for protection.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even if a kingdom falls into a porter's hands, he goes back to his old trade. The children of craving know no rest; desire breeds desire, and work breeds more work. The pleasures of wealth never really touch the body; worry over enjoying them burns like a fire of obstacles. Tuka says: such a person carries the fear of death, always guarding and scheming to keep himself safe.
What it means
Tukaram sketches the treadmill of worldly craving and where it ends. Give a kingdom to a bundle-carrier and he returns to hauling bundles, because craving has no off-switch: each desire gives birth to the next, each task to more tasks. Even the pleasures of wealth never actually reach the man who owns them; the anxiety of holding and enjoying them burns like a fire. The look the poem invites is inward: the one bound this way lives in constant fear of death, forever defending what cannot finally be kept.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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