Metaphor, grace where effort fails
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मणि पडिला दाढेसी मकरतोंडीं । सुखें हस्तें चि काढवेल प्रौढीं ॥1॥
परि मूर्खाचें चित्त बोधवेना । दुधें कूर्मीच्या पाळवेल सेना ॥ध्रु.॥
सकळ पृथ्वी हिंडतां कदाचित । ससीसिंगाची प्राप्त होय तेथें ॥2॥
अतिप्रयत्नें गािळतां वाळुवेतें । दिव्य तेलाची प्राप्त होय तेथें ॥3॥
अतिक्रोधें खवळला फणी पाही । धरूं येतो मस्तकीं पुष्पप्रायी ॥4॥
पहा ब्रह्मानंदें चि एकीं हेळा । महापातकी तो तुका मुक्त केला ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A jewel caught in the jaws of a crocodile could still be removed with a steady, daring hand. But the mind of a fool simply cannot be enlightened. An army of turtles could be nourished with milk, if one tried hard enough. If you scoured the whole earth, you might somehow find a hare's horn. If you pressed sand hard enough, you might extract rare oil. Even a furious serpent could be subdued and have a flower placed upon its head. Says Tuka, by the bliss of Brahman alone has this great wrongdoer been effortlessly set free.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A jewel that has fallen into a crocodile's jaws, a steady, daring hand can still pull it out. But the mind of a fool cannot be made to understand. An army of turtles could be raised on milk, if one tried hard enough. Wander the whole earth and you might somehow find a hare's horn. Press sand hard enough and you might draw out rare oil. Even a raging cobra can be tamed and have a flower laid on its head. Tuka says: by the bliss of Brahman alone, this one great sinner was set free without effort.
What it means
Tukaram piles up impossibilities to measure one harder thing and then one easier thing. A jewel from a crocodile's mouth, an army of turtles fed on milk, a hare's horn, oil pressed from sand, a flower set on a furious serpent: all are absurd, yet he calls the fool's awakening harder still. The point is that no amount of clever effort can open a closed mind. Against all that strain he sets the last line, where the impossible happens without effort: the bliss of Brahman, sheer grace, freed even a great sinner. He puts himself in that place, naming himself the sinner, so the claim lands on his own life: what striving could never reach, grace did, and did it easily.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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