Metaphor, the warning of bondage
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पायां लावुनियां दोरी । भृंग बांधिला लेंकुरीं ॥1॥
तैसा पावसी बंधन । मग सोडवील कोण ॥ध्रु.॥
गळां बांधोनियां दोरी । वांनर हिंडवी घरोघरीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पाहें । रीस धांपा देत आहे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A child ties a string to a beetle's leg and keeps it captive. In the same way, you too will fall into bondage, and then who will set you free? With a rope around its neck, a monkey is led from house to house. Says Tuka, look, the bear dances for morsels thrown its way.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A child ties a string to a beetle's leg and keeps it captive. In just this way you too will fall into bondage; and then who will set you free? With a rope tied around its neck, a monkey is led from house to house. Tuka says: look, the bear dances for the morsels thrown to it.
What it means
Tukaram warns through three pictures of creatures held on a string: a beetle tethered by a child at play, a monkey led door to door by its rope, a bear made to dance for scraps. Each animal moves and performs, yet none is free; the leash is held by another. The point turned on the listener is the question in the middle, once you are bound like this, who will release you? He is warning that a life run by appetite and small rewards is exactly such a leash, and the time to see it is now, while the question of freedom is still open.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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