Worldly life, the burden of self and other
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देहबुद्धि वसे लोभ जयां चित्तीं । आपुलें जाणती परावें जे ॥१॥
तयासि चालतां पाहिजे सिदोरी । दुःख पावे करी असत्य तो ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे धर्म रक्षाया कारणें । छाया इच्छी उन्हें तापला तो ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those whose chitta is steeped in body-consciousness and greed, who distinguish between 'mine' and 'another's,' need provisions for their journey and suffer misery because they live by falsehood. Says Tuka, the one scorched by the sun seeks shade in order to protect what is righteous.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Their mind is full of body-thought and greed. They divide the world into mine and another's. Such people must carry provisions when they travel. They live by falsehood, and so they suffer. Tuka says: to guard what is right, the man scorched by the sun goes seeking shade.
What it means
Tukaram is contrasting the life weighed down by ego with the life set free. As long as the mind is sunk in body-consciousness and greed, it keeps splitting reality into mine and yours, and that division is a falsehood that brings its own suffering. Such a person can never travel light: he must always carry his store of provisions, his anxious securities. The closing image points to the remedy by analogy: just as the sun-scorched man seeks shade, one burned by this false way should seek the cool refuge of what is truly righteous.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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