Metaphor, spend the body in honest toil
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मजुराचें पोट भरे । दाता उरे संचला ॥1॥
या रे या रे हातोहातीं । काय माती सारावी ॥ध्रु.॥
रोजकीदव होतां झाडा । रोकडा चि पर्वत ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे खोल पाया । वेचों काया क्लेशेसीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The laborer's belly gets filled, while the miser hoards and remains hungry. Come, come, hand over hand, why should you carry mere dirt? When each day's account is settled in full, the daily wage itself becomes a mountain of wealth. Says Tuka, lay a deep foundation, and spend this body willingly through honest toil.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The laborer's belly is filled, while the miser hoards and stays empty. Come, come, hand to hand, why should you keep carrying mere dirt? When the day's account is settled in full, the daily wage itself grows into a mountain. Tuka says: lay a deep foundation. Spend this body gladly in honest toil.
What it means
Tukaram turns a building site into a lesson about how to spend a human life. The worker who labors and is paid eats his fill, while the miser who only hoards goes hungry, so giving and using is the way that feeds you. He calls you to keep passing the load hand to hand instead of clutching worthless dirt, because when the day's reckoning is done the small daily wage will have piled into a mountain. The closing charge is to dig a deep foundation and to spend this body willingly in honest devoted effort, since that labor, not hoarding, is what builds something lasting.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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