Metaphor, attention held while the hands work
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाण्या निघाली गुजरी । मन ठेविलें दो घागरीं । चाले मोकळ्या पदरीं । परी लक्ष तेथें ॥1॥
वावडी उडाली अंबरीं। हातीं धरोनियां दोरी । दिसे दुरिच्या दुरी । परी लक्ष तेथें॥ध्रु.॥
चोर चोरी करी । ठेवी वनांतरीं । वर्ततसे चराचरीं । परी लक्ष तेथें ॥2॥
व्यभिचारिणी नारी । घराश्रम करी । परपुरुष जिव्हारीं । परी लक्ष तेथें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे असों भलतिये व्यापारीं। लक्ष सर्वेश्वरीं । चुकों नेदी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A water-carrier woman goes to fetch water, her mind fixed on the two pots on her head. She walks with her sari loose, yet her attention is there. A kite soars high in the sky, held by a string in the hand. It appears far, far away, yet the attention is there. A thief commits theft and hides his loot in the forest. He moves about in the world, yet his attention is there. An unfaithful woman runs her household, but her chitta belongs to another man, and her attention is there. Says Tuka, let us be engaged in any occupation; let our attention never stray from the Lord of all.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The water-carrier woman sets out for water, her mind kept on the two pots on her head. Her sari hangs loose as she walks, but her attention is there. The kite flies up into the sky, the string held in the hand. It looks far, far away, but the attention is there. The thief commits his theft and hides the loot in the forest; he moves about in the world, but his attention is there. The unfaithful woman runs her household, but her heart is with another man, and her attention is there. Tuka says: let us be busy in whatever work; let the attention stay on the Lord of all, and never lose it.
What it means
Tukaram is teaching how to keep God in mind through a working life. He gathers four ordinary figures, the woman balancing pots, the flyer holding the kite string, the thief minding his hidden loot, the unfaithful wife, and finds in each the same trait: the hands are busy with one thing while the attention stays fixed elsewhere, unbroken. He uses even the thief and the adulteress without flinching, because the lesson is about the power of held attention, not about their morality. The point lands on the seeker: you do not need to abandon your work; you need only fix your attention on the Lord of all and keep it there as steadily as these people keep theirs. Remembrance, not idleness, is the practice.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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