Metaphor, the mismatched marriage
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कानडीनें केला मर्हाटा भ्रतार । एकाचें उत्तर एका न ये ॥१॥
तैसें मज नको करूं कमळापति । देई या संगति सज्जनांची ॥ध्रु.॥
तिनें पाचारिलें इल बा म्हणोन । येरु पळे आण जाली आतां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे येर येरा जें विच्छिन्न । तेथें वाढे सीण सुखा पोटीं ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A Kannada woman took a Marathi husband; neither one can grasp the other's words. Do not let my fate be like theirs, O Kamalapati; give me the company of the saints. She called to him tenderly, "il ba," and he fled, certain she had cursed him. Says Tuka, where one is estranged from the other, sorrow grows in the very belly of happiness.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A Kannada woman married a Marathi husband, and neither could understand a word the other said. Do not let my life be like that, Lord of Lakshmi; give me instead the company of the saints. She called to him tenderly, il ba, and he ran off, certain she had cursed him. Tuka says: where two are strangers to each other, sorrow grows in the very belly of their happiness.
What it means
A homely, almost comic parable about estrangement. A husband and wife who do not share a language cannot reach each other; her word of endearment sounds to him like a curse, and he flees. Tukaram prays not to live like that, cut off and misunderstanding, and asks instead for the company of the saints, where hearts actually meet. The closing line is the teaching: where there is no real understanding between people, sorrow breeds inside the very thing that should be joy. He wants company that speaks his soul's own language.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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