Worldly life, the seductions of Maya
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लावुनियां गोठी । चुकवूं आदरिली दिठी । देउनियां मिठी । पळे महिमा थुलिया ॥1॥
पुढें तो चि करी आड । तिचा लोभ तिसी नाड । लावुनि चरफड । हात गोऊनि पळावें ॥ध्रु.॥
आधीं काकुलती । मोहो घालावा पुढती । तोंडीं पडे माती । फिरतां मागें कैचा तो ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा । यासी रडवी याचा हेवा । भावें कां हे सेवा । सुखें तुह्मां नापिनती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Maya lures with sweet talk and steals away one's gaze. Offering an embrace, she flees with all one's glory. She sets herself as an obstacle, binding those who desire her with longing, causing anguish, then slipping away. First she comes pleading, casting her spell of delusion; but when you turn back, she is nowhere to be found. Says Tuka, O Lord, this is the envy that makes her torment souls. Why does this service not please You through sincere devotion?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
She starts up sweet talk and pulls your gaze away. She gives an embrace, then runs off with all your worth. Next she sets herself across your path; the one who craves her, she ruins by that very craving. She leaves you writhing, ties your hands, and slips away. First she comes pleading and casts her spell over you again. But dirt falls in your mouth: when you turn back, where is she? Tuka says: O God, it is her own envy that drives her to torment souls. Why does serving you in sincere love not bring her this same delight?
What it means
Tukaram dramatizes Maya, the world's deluding power, as a faithless seducer to show how attachment betrays the one caught by it. She wins you with sweet talk and a quick embrace, then flees with everything precious, and the very longing she stirs up is what wrecks the one who longs. She pleads and casts her spell again, but the moment you turn to seize her she is gone, leaving only dirt in the mouth. The closing line turns the whole scene into a prayer and a question to God: this restless torment is Maya's nature, so why does the heart not find its delight instead in the steady, sincere service of the Lord, where there is no such betrayal?
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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