Metaphor, the one puppeteer within
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जिव्हा जाणे फिकें मधुर क्षार । येर मास पर हातास न कळे ॥1॥
देखावें नेत्रीं बोलावें मुखें । चित्ता सुखदुःखें कळों येती ॥ध्रु.॥
परिमळासी घ्राण ऐकती श्रवण । एकाचे कारण एका नव्हे ॥2॥
एकदेहीं भिन्न ठेवियेल्या कळा । नाचवी पुतळा सूत्रधारी॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐशी जयाची सत्ता । कां तया अनंता विसरलेती ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The tongue knows bitter, sweet, and salty, but the rest of the body cannot. The eyes see, the mouth speaks, and the mind perceives joy and sorrow. The nose knows fragrance, the ears receive sound; one organ's function cannot be done by another. Within a single body, distinct capacities have been placed; the puppeteer pulls the strings and the puppet dances. Says Tuka, such is the power of that One; why then have you forgotten the Infinite?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The tongue knows bland, sweet, and salty; the rest of the body cannot. The eyes see, the mouth speaks, and the mind feels joy and sorrow. The nose knows smell, the ears take in sound; one organ's work cannot be done by another. In one body these separate powers are placed, and the puppeteer pulls the strings and the puppet dances. Tuka says: such is the power of that One; why then have you forgotten the Infinite?
What it means
Tukaram points to the ordinary marvel of the body to argue for its hidden master. Each sense does only its own work: the tongue tastes but cannot see, the eyes see but cannot taste, the nose smells and the ears hear, and none can trade places. Yet all these unlike powers are set together in a single body and made to act in concert, like a puppet whose limbs move only because a hand pulls the strings. He names the conclusion: that ordering hand is the power of the One. And he turns it into a reproach to the listener: if that Infinite runs your every sense, how have you managed to forget the very One who works you?
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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