Nondual, words divide the One
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चित्त तें चिंतन कल्पनेची धांव । जे जे वाढे हांव इंिद्रयांची ॥1॥
हात पाव दिसे शरीर चालतां । नावें भेद सत्ता जीवाची ते ॥ध्रु.॥
रवीचिये अंगीं प्रकाशक कळा । वचनें निराळा भेद दिला ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माप वचनाच्या अंगीं । मौन्य काय रंगीं निवडावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The mind is the rush of imagination and desire, ever increasing the cravings of the senses. The hands, feet, and body appear to move, but it is the jiva's own authority that names these divisions. The sun possesses the quality of radiance, yet we speak of its rays as something separate. Says Tuka, words create the impression of measure; can silence then sort out the different hues?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The mind is the rush of imagination, the running of thought, swelling each craving of the senses. Hands, feet, the body seem to move; yet it is the one life within that is named under these many names. The sun has the single power of shining, and speech alone gives its rays a separate name. Tuka says: words lay a measure on what has no parts; what could silence ever pick out by color?
What it means
Tukaram examines how language splits a single reality into many. Mind, thought, craving, the moving hands and feet: these look like separate powers, but it is one life that gets carved up under different names. His example is the sun, which has only the single quality of shining, while speech alone makes its rays sound like something apart from it. The closing turn is sharp: words impose a measure and a division on what is really one, and in true silence there are no separate hues left to sort.
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