मराठी मूळ
हीं च त्यांचीं पंचभूतें । जीवन भातें प्रेमाचें ॥1॥
कळवळा धरिला संतीं । ते निगुती कैवाड ॥ध्रु.॥
हा च काळ वर्तमान । साधन ही संपत्ती ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे दिवसरातीं । हें चि खाती अन्न ते ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
These same five elements are theirs. Their daily rice is love itself. The saints have held compassion within them. That is their innermost championship of us. This present moment is their practice. This itself is their wealth. Says Tuka, day and night, this is the food they eat.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The same five elements are theirs as ours. Their daily food is love itself. The saints have held tenderness within them; that is their hidden care for us. This present moment is their whole practice. This itself is their wealth. Tuka says: day and night, this is the food they eat.
What it means
Tukaram is describing what makes the saints saints, given that they are made of the same flesh as anyone. They are built of the same five elements, yet what truly sustains them is love, as if love were their daily rice. The compassion they hold inside is quietly their championing of ordinary people. They do not defer practice to a special time; the present moment is their sadhana, and that nearness to God is their only riches. He repeats it to fix it: morning and night, love is what they live on, the food they actually eat.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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