Exhortation, the boat is waiting
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां उघडीं डोळे । जरी अद्यापि न कळे ॥ तरी मातेचिये खोळे । दगड आला पोटासि ॥१॥
मनुष्यदेहा ऐसा निध । साधिली ते साधे सिद्ध ॥ करूनि प्रबोध । संत पार उतरले ॥ध्रु.॥
नाव चंद्रभागे तीरीं । उभी पुंडलीकाचे द्वारीं ॥ कट धरूनियां करीं । उभाउभी पालवी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे फुकासाठीं । पायीं घातली या मिठी ॥ होतो उठाउठी । लवकरी च उतार ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Open your eyes now; if you still do not understand, then a stone came wrapped in your mother's membrane. A treasure like this human body can fulfill all attainments; the saints, having awakened, crossed to the other shore. The boat stands at the bank of the Chandrabhaga, at Pundalik's door; with hands on His hips, He calls out urgently: come! Says Tuka, for nothing at all, clasp His feet; the crossing happens instantly, right then and there.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Open your eyes now. If you still do not understand, then it was a stone that came wrapped in your mother's womb, not a child. A human body like this is a treasure that can win every attainment; the saints, once awakened, used it to cross to the far shore. The boat is waiting on the bank of the Chandrabhaga, right at Pundalik's door, and God stands there, hands on his hips, calling out, come, come quickly. Tuka says: for no price at all, throw your arms around his feet. The crossing happens at once, right then and there.
What it means
An urgent call to wake up while the chance is here. The harsh opening, that a person who still will not see is a stone and not a child, is meant to jolt. Tukaram prizes the human birth as a rare treasure, the one form in which liberation can actually be won, and the proof is the saints who used it to cross over. Then he paints Pandharpur as the waiting boat: God himself stands at the river, hands on hips, urgently waving the soul aboard. And the fare is nothing. Simply cling to his feet, and the crossing is not delayed for some future life; it is instant, here and now.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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