The body, neither vile nor holy, turn to Hari
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शरीर दुःखाचें कोठार । शरीर रोगाचें भांडार । शरीर दुगपधीची थार । नाहीं अपवित्र शरीरा ऐसें ॥1॥
शरीर उत्तम चांगलें। शरीर सुखाचें घोंसुलें । शरीरें साध्य होय केलें । शरीरें साधलें परब्रह्म ॥ध्रु.॥
शरीर विटाळाचें अळें । मायामोहपाशजाळें। पतन शरीराच्या मुळें । शरीर काळें व्यापिलें ॥2॥
शरीर सकळ हें शुद्ध । शरीर निधींचा ही निध । शरीरें तुटे भवबंध । वसे मध्यें भोगी देव शरीरा ॥3॥
शरीर अविद्येचा बांधा । शरीर अवगुणाचा रांधा । शरीरीं वसे बहुत बाधा । नाहीं गुण सुदा एक शरीरीं ॥4॥
शरीरा दुःख नेदावा भोग । न द्यावें सुख न करीं त्याग । नव्हे वोखटें ना चांग । तुका ह्मणे वेग करीं हरिभजनीं ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The body is a storehouse of suffering, a warehouse of disease, a den of foul odors. There is nothing as impure as the body. Yet the body is excellent and good. The body is a nest of happiness. What is to be accomplished is accomplished through the body. Through the body, the Supreme Brahman is realized. The body is a pit of defilement, a snare of illusion and attachment. Downfall comes because of the body; the body is engulfed in darkness. Yet the body is entirely pure. The body is the treasure of all treasures. Through the body the bonds of existence are cut, for God dwells within and enjoys the body. The body is a house of ignorance, a furnace of bad qualities. Many afflictions reside in the body; there is not a single redeeming quality in it. Do not give the body the pleasure of indulgence; do not give it comfort; do not renounce it either. It is neither bad nor good. Says Tuka, make haste in the worship of Hari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The body is a storehouse of suffering, a warehouse of disease, a den of foul odors. Nothing is as impure as this body. And yet the body is excellent and good. The body is a nest of happiness. What must be done is done through the body. Through the body the Supreme Brahman is reached. The body is a pit of defilement, a snare of illusion and attachment. Downfall comes through the body; the body is wrapped in darkness. And yet the body is wholly pure. The body is the treasure of all treasures. Through the body the bonds of existence are cut, for God dwells within and enjoys the body. The body is a house of ignorance, a furnace of bad qualities. Many afflictions live in the body; not one good quality is in it. Do not give the body the pleasure of indulgence. Do not give it comfort. Do not renounce it either. It is neither bad nor good. Tuka says: make haste in the worship of Hari.
What it means
Tukaram piles up two opposite verdicts on the body and refuses to settle on either. In one breath it is a warehouse of disease and a pit of defilement; in the next it is the treasure of treasures, the very means by which Brahman is reached and the bonds of existence are cut. The point is that the body is not the question. To pamper it or to torture it are both ways of staring at it, and both miss the mark. So he tells you to stop ranking the body and to spend it instead, quickly, on the one thing that settles the matter: the worship of Hari.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
More in this theme →