Warning, liberation is no commodity
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मोक्ष देवापाशीं नाहीं । लटिक्या घाई विळवतें॥1॥
काय खरें न धरी शुद्धी । गेली बुद्धी भ्रमलें ॥ध्रु.॥
अहंकारास उरलें काई । पांचांठायीं हें वांटे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कुंथे भारें । लटिकें खरें मानुनियां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Liberation does not reside with God as some commodity. Why do you pursue empty illusions? Why do you not hold fast to what is real? Your intellect has gone astray. What remains of the ego? It is divided among the five elements. Says Tuka, one strains under a burden, having taken the false to be true.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Liberation does not sit beside God like a thing to be had. You wear yourself out chasing a lie. Why will you not hold to what is real? Your sense is gone; your mind has lost its way. What is left of this ego of yours? It is shared out among the five elements. Tuka says: he groans under the load, taking the false to be true.
What it means
Tukaram attacks the idea that liberation is some prize stored with God, to be collected by effort. The person who hunts for it that way is exhausting himself over an illusion while ignoring what is actually real and present. He points to the body's makeup: the ego that grasps so hard is only borrowed from the five elements and will be returned to them. The whole strain comes from one mistake, treating the false as if it were true, and the way out is to stop chasing and hold to the real.
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