Metaphor, drawn and transformed by God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लोह चुंबकाच्या बळें । उभें राहिलें निराळें ॥1॥
तैसा तूं चि आह्मांठायीं । खेळतोसी अंतर्बाहीं ॥ध्रु.॥
भक्ष अग्नीचा तो दोरा । त्यासि वांचवी मोहरा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे अधीलपणें । नेली लांकडें चंदनें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
As iron stands upright, drawn by the force of a magnet, so You play within us and around us. A wick is consumed by fire, yet the flame protects its glow. Says Tuka, the fragrance of sandalwood has lifted common logs into its own nobility.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Iron stands up by the force of the magnet, lifted from where it lay. So You play in us, inside and outside both. The wick is food for the fire, yet the flame keeps its own glow alive. Tuka says: by simply being near, plain logs are carried into the nobility of sandalwood.
What it means
Tukaram is naming, through three images, how God works on a soul that comes close to Him. Iron has no power to rise on its own; the magnet draws it upright, just as Hari plays within us and around us and pulls us toward Himself. The wick is consumed by the flame, yet the flame is what keeps the glow burning, so what looks like being destroyed is being kept alive. The last image lands the claim: ordinary wood lying beside sandalwood takes on the sandalwood's fragrance, so nearness alone lifts common things into the higher nature. The point is that the change is not earned by the iron, the wick, or the log; it comes from the one they are joined to.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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