Exhortation, save the human birth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अरे गििळले हो संसारें । कांहीं तरि राखा खरें । दिला करुणाकरें । मनुष्यदेह सत्संग ॥1॥
येथें न घलीं न घलीं आड । संचितसा शब्द नाड । उठाउठीं गोड । बीजें बीज वाढवा ॥ध्रु.॥
केलें ते क्रियमाण । जालें तें संचित ह्मण । प्रारब्ध जाण । उरवरित उरले तें ॥2॥
चित्त खोटें चालीवरि । रोग भोगाचे अंतरीं। रसने अनावरी । तुका ह्मणे ढुंग वाहे ॥3॥
अग्न तापलिया काया चि होमे । तापत्रयें संतप्त होती । संचित क्रियमाण प्रारब्ध तेथें ।
न चुके संसारिस्थति । राहाटघटिका जैसी फिरतां चि राहिली । भरली जाती एके रितीं ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O people, the world has swallowed you whole! At least save something real. The compassionate Lord has given you a human body and the gift of holy company. Do not place any obstacle here; do not speak the hollow word of fate. At once, with joy, plant the seed and let seed grow from seed. What is done now becomes kriyaman. What is accumulated becomes sanchit. What remains is prarabdha: the leftover balance, the destiny already in motion. When the chitta is crooked, following mere habit, and disease and unrestrained appetite rule the inner life, Says Tuka, the tongue carries the whole body behind it, right down to the rear. When the body burns like a fire-offering, scorched by the three-fold miseries, sanchit, kriyaman, and prarabdha all converge there. The cycle of worldly existence never breaks. Like a water-wheel that goes on turning, one jar fills while the other empties.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
O people, the world has swallowed you whole. At least save something real. The merciful Lord has given you a human body and the company of the holy. Do not raise an obstacle here; do not lean on the hollow word of fate. Right now, gladly, plant the seed and let seed grow from seed. What you do now becomes the action in motion; what you have stored up is the accumulated store; what is left over and already set going is your destiny. When the mind is crooked and runs on mere habit, when disease and appetite rule within, Tuka says: the tongue drags the whole body behind it, down to the backside. When the body burns like a fire-offering, scorched by the threefold misery, the stored, the present, and the destined all meet there. The round of worldly life never breaks. Like a water wheel turning, one jar fills while another empties.
What it means
Tukaram is shaking people awake before the chance is gone. The human body and the company of the holy are the rare gifts, and the great temptation is to waste them by hiding behind fate as an excuse to do nothing. So he says plant the seed now: act, do not stall. He sets out the three kinds of karma plainly, what you do, what you have stored, what is already fixed, to show that an undisciplined life keeps all three turning. The crooked mind, the runaway appetite, the burning body: these keep the water wheel of birth and death spinning, one jar emptying as the next fills, until the seed of right action is finally planted.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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