Warning, the unwatched field
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वोनव्या सोंकरीं । सेत खादलें पांखरीं ॥1॥
तैसा खाऊं नको दगा । निदसुरा राहुनि जागा ॥ध्रु.॥
चोरासवें वाट ॥ चालोनि केलें तळपट ॥
2॥ डोळे झांकुनि राती ॥
कूर्पी पडे दिवसा जोती ॥3॥
पोसी वांज गाय । तेथें कैची दुध साय ॥4॥
फुटकी सांगडी । तुका ह्मणे न पवे थडी ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Neglecting to watch the field, the birds ate the crop. Do not be deceived like that; wake up from your heedless sleep. Walking alongside a thief, you were utterly ruined. Closing your eyes at night, you fall into a pit by day. Nurturing a barren cow, where is the milk or the cream? Says Tuka, a broken raft will never reach the shore.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You did not watch the field, and the birds ate the crop. Do not be cheated like that. Wake up from your drowsy sleep. You walked the road with a thief, and you were ruined. You shut your eyes at night, and by day you fall into the pit. You feed a barren cow; where will the milk and cream come from? Tuka says: a broken raft never reaches the far shore.
What it means
Tukaram warns against the heedlessness that throws away a whole life. Each image names the same failure: the unguarded field stripped by birds, the road walked beside a thief, eyes shut so that one stumbles into a pit. They all describe a soul too drowsy to keep watch over itself, letting the senses and bad company plunder it. The barren cow is effort spent on what can never yield, devotion to things that give nothing back. The closing image is the verdict: a cracked raft will sink before it crosses, so a life left unguarded never reaches the other shore.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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