Metaphor, each carries its own burden
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ज्याचे माथां जो जो भार । ते चि फार तयासी ॥1॥
मागें पुढें अवघें रितें । कळों येतें अनुभवें ॥ध्रु.॥
परिसा अंगीं अमुपसोनें । पोटीं हीन धातु चि ॥2॥
आपुला तो करि धर्म । जाणे वर्म तुका तें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Whatever burden rests on whose head feels heaviest to that person. Before and after, everything else is empty, as experience makes clear. The philosopher's stone may contain limitless gold, yet its own inner substance is mere base metal. Says Tuka, each acts according to its own dharma; he who knows the secret knows this well.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Whatever load lies on a person's head feels the heaviest to that person. Look before and behind: all the rest is empty. Experience makes this plain. The philosopher's stone holds limitless gold, yet inside its own body it is only base metal. Tuka says: each thing acts by its own nature; the one who knows the secret knows this.
What it means
Tukaram observes that every person feels their own burden as the heaviest, while everything around them looks empty and weightless by comparison. Experience, he says, teaches this clearly. His sharp image is the philosopher's stone: it turns endless iron into gold, yet in its own substance it stays base metal, never becoming gold itself. The lesson is about acting from one's true nature rather than appearances: a thing does what it is, and only the one who knows this hidden law sees past how things look to what they actually are.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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