Nondual union, seed and tree, wave and water
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तरुवर बीजा पोटीं । बीज तरुवरा सेवटीं ॥1॥
तैसें तुह्मां आह्मां जालें । एकीं एक सामावलें ॥ध्रु.॥
उदकावरील तरंग।तरंग उदकाचें अंग ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बिंबच्छाया । ठायीं पावली विलया॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The tree lies within the seed, and the seed is found at the end of the tree. So it is between You and us; one is contained within the other. The wave rises upon the water; the wave is the very limb of the water. Says Tuka, the reflection has merged back into the original; the image and its source have become one.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The tree lies inside the seed, and the seed waits at the tree's end. So it has become between you and us: each is held within the other. The wave rises on the water, and the wave is the water's own body. Tuka says: the reflection has dissolved back into its source; the image and the original have become one.
What it means
Tukaram is naming the union of the devotee and God in three images that each undo the line between two things. The seed holds the whole tree, and the tree comes back to seed; there is no telling where one starts. The wave looks like its own thing, yet it is nothing but the water moving. The reflection seems separate from what it mirrors, yet it merges back and the two are one. He is saying his relationship with God has reached this point: not a worshipper standing before a separate Lord, but each contained in the other, the seeming twoness collapsing into one.
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