Nature of God, the rope and the snake
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चंचळीं चंचळ निश्चळीं निश्चळ । वाजवी खळाळ उदकासी ॥1॥
सोपें वर्म परि मन नाहीं हातीं । हा हा भूत चित्तीं भ्रम गाढा ॥ध्रु.॥
रविबिंब नाहीं तुटत उदका । छायेची ते नका सरी धरूं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भय धरी रज्जूसाटीं । नाहीं साच पोटीं कळलें तों ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
With the restless it is restless, with the still it is still; it makes the water ripple and churn. The secret is simple, yet the mind is not in our hands; the strong ghost of delusion haunts the chitta. The sun's image in water never truly separates from the sun; do not compare a shadow with its source. Says Tuka, one trembles at a rope mistaking it for a snake; the fear persists until the truth is known.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
With the restless it is restless, with the still it is still; it makes the water ripple and roar. The secret is simple, yet the mind is not in our hands; this strong ghost of delusion haunts the heart. The sun's reflection in water never really breaks off from the sun; do not treat the shadow as equal to its source. Tuka says: a man trembles at a rope, taking it for a snake, and the fear stays until the truth is known.
What it means
Tukaram is explaining why God seems near or far, calm or stirred, depending on us: the one reality takes on restlessness in the restless and stillness in the still, like water that ripples or lies quiet. The secret of it is simple, he says, but the trouble is the mind, which we do not control and which is haunted by a stubborn ghost of delusion. He gives two images: the sun reflected in water is never actually cut off from the sun, so do not mistake the reflection for the real thing; and a man who sees a coiled rope in the dark trembles, sure it is a snake. The fear is wholly produced by the false seeing and lasts exactly as long as the ignorance. Once the truth is known, both the imagined snake and the fear simply dissolve.
The Nature of God
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