Metaphor, destiny's unequal portions
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कुंभ अवघा एक आवा । पाकीं एकीं गुफे डावा ॥१॥
ऐसे भिन्न भिन्न साटे । केले प्रारब्धानें वांटे ॥ध्रु.॥
हिरे दगड एक खाणी । कैचें विजातीसी पाणी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे शिरीं । एक एकाची पायरी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
All pots come from the same kiln of clay, yet some are baked to strength while others crumble in the fire. So has destiny made distinct portions from the same source. Diamonds and common stones come from the same mine, yet water will never be found in the foreign rock. Says Tuka, each one serves as a stepping stone upon the head of another.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
All the pots come from one kiln. In the firing, some hold and some are spoiled. So destiny makes different lots out of the same source. Diamonds and plain stones come from one mine; the foreign rock yields no water. Tuka says: on one head rests the step of another.
What it means
Tukaram looks at how lives come out unequal from what seems a single origin. The pots are all formed from one kiln of clay, yet the same fire leaves some sound and some ruined, and he names this the work of destiny dividing one source into different lots. The diamond and the common stone share one mine, but worth is not evenly spread, and water is not drawn from the wrong rock. The closing image holds the order this makes: lives are ranked like steps, each one a stair beneath another, so the poem sits with difference as a fact rather than protesting it.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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