Reckoning, the watchman calls
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मायबाप जोहार । सारा साधावया आलों वेसकर ॥१॥
मागील पुढील करा झाडा । नाहीं तरी खोडा घालिती जी ॥ध्रु.॥
फांकुं नका रुजू जालिया वांचून । सांगा जी कोण घरीं तीं धण्या ॥२॥
आजि मायबाप करा तडामोडी । उद्यां कोणी घडी राहेना हो ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे कांहीं न चले ते बोली । अखरते सालीं झाडा घेती ॥४॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Johar, my lords and patrons! I have come as the village watchman to settle all accounts. Clear your debts, past and future, or they will throw you in the stocks. Do not slip away without presenting yourself. Tell me, master, who is the true owner of this house? Today, patrons, break it all and settle it. Tomorrow, not a single moment is promised. Says Tuka: empty words will not work here. At the end, they strip even the husk in the reckoning.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Johar, my lords and patrons. I have come, the village watchman, to settle all the accounts. Clear your debts, the old ones and the ones still to come, or you will be put in the stocks. Do not slip off without showing yourself; tell me, master, who is the real owner of this house? Settle it all today, my patrons, break it open and reckon it now, for tomorrow not a single moment is promised to you. Tuka says: empty words will not pass here. In the end they strip away even the husk in the reckoning.
What it means
Tukaram takes on the voice of the vesakar, the village watchman who calls out johar and comes to collect what is owed, and behind that voice stands Death and the final reckoning. The debts to be cleared are a life's deeds; the stocks are the consequence; the unanswerable question, who really owns this house, exposes how little of what we call ours is truly ours. The urgency is the heart of it: settle today, because tomorrow is not promised, and at the end the accounting is total, stripping away even the husk. He uses the lowly servant's role to deliver the highest warning.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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