Metaphor, the open shop of the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांटविले वाण । पैस घातला दुकान ॥1॥
जें ज्या पाहिजे जे काळीं । आहे सिद्ध चि जवळी ॥ध्रु.॥
निवडिलें साचें । उत्तममध्यमकनिष्ठाचें ॥2॥
तुका बैसला दुकानीं । दावी मोला ऐसी वाणी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The goods have been stocked the capital has been invested, and the shop has been opened. Whatever anyone needs, at any time, is ready and available at hand. The finest, the middling, and the ordinary have all been sorted. Says Tuka, I sit in this shop, displaying wares and naming each one's worth.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The goods are stocked, the capital put in, the shop opened. Whatever anyone needs, at any time, is ready right here at hand. The finest, the middling, and the plainest have all been sorted out. Tuka says: I sit in this shop, showing the wares and naming each one's worth.
What it means
Tukaram pictures himself as a shopkeeper whose merchandise is the teaching, freely laid out. The shop is stocked and open, ready to supply whatever anyone needs at any time, with nothing hidden away. He has sorted the goods into best, middling, and plain, meeting each seeker at the level he can take. He says he simply sits there displaying the wares and naming their true value, leaving the choosing to those who come.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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