Metaphor, the lamp and the master's treasury
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आदि मध्य अंत दाखविला दीपें । हा तों आपणापें यत्न बरा ॥1॥
दाशत्त्वें दाविलें धन्याचें भांडार । तोंतों नव्हे सार एथुनियां ॥ध्रु.॥
उपायानें सोस नासला सकळ । सत्ते सत्ताबळ अंगा आलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे दृिष्ट सकळांचे शिरीं । वचन चि करी बैसोनियां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The lamp has illuminated the beginning, the middle, and the end. This effort of making it visible was well worth it. The attendant has been shown the treasury of the master, but the treasure is not his to keep. Through this remedy all restlessness has been dispelled, and the strength of true authority has entered the body. Says Tuka, his gaze is upon the heads of all, and seated, he governs by word alone.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The lamp has shown the beginning, the middle, and the end. This effort to make it seen was well worth it. The servant has been shown the master's treasury, but the treasure is not his to keep from here on. By this means all craving has been destroyed; the strength of true authority has come into the body. Tuka says: his gaze rests on the heads of all, and seated, he rules by his word alone.
What it means
Tukaram uses two images for what realization gives and withholds. The lamp standing for divine light reveals the whole of things, start to finish, and that revealing was worth all the effort. Yet he is careful: the realized one is like a servant shown the master's full treasury; he may see and use it, but it is not his own possession to hoard. The fruit is that craving is burned away and a true, steady authority enters him, so that, without striving, his very presence and word govern, his gaze resting over all heads.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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