Metaphor, the debt is paid, dance
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सातें चला काजळ घाला तेल फणी करा । दिवाणदारीं बैसले पारीं नाचों फेर धरा ॥१॥
या साहेबाचें जालें देणें वेळोवेळां न लगे येणें । आतां हाटीं काशासाठीं हिंडों पाटी दुकानें ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघ्या जणी मुंढा धणी नाचों एकें घाई । सरसावलें सुख कैसा चाळा एके ठायीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे वोळगों एका तोड चिंता माया । देऊं उद्गार आतां जाऊं मुळीचिया ठाया ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Come, all of you, apply the collyrium, oil your hair, and take your combs. The court is in session; let us form a circle and dance. The Master's payment has been made in full; we need not come begging again and again. No more wandering through market stalls and shops. All the women together, with one Lord over all, let us dance in a single surge. The joy has arrived; what a wonderful game in one place. Says Tuka, let us devote ourselves to the One alone. Cut away the tangle of worry and illusion, raise a shout, and go to the place of our true origin.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Come, all of you, put on the kohl, oil your hair, take up the comb. The court is in session at the meeting-place; let us hold a circle and dance. This Master's payment has been made; there is no need to come back again and again. So why wander the market now, from stall to shop and back? All the women together, with one Lord over them all, let us dance in a single rush. The joy has come close; what a game it is, all in one place. Tuka says: let us serve the One alone. Cut away worry and illusion. Let us raise a shout and go now to the place we first came from.
What it means
Tukaram dresses up the soul like a woman adorning herself for a festival dance, then declares that the long debt has already been paid in full. Because the Master has settled the account, there is no need to keep coming back as a beggar or to wander endlessly through the market, the image of restless worldly seeking. The call is to gather as one, under the one Lord, and pour everything into a single surge of joyful devotion. The closing turn names the goal plainly: serve the One, cut away worry and illusion, and return to the original home of the soul.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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