Exhortation, let it ripen
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धन्ये शुद्ध जाती । धरीं लौकरी परती ॥1॥
ऐकिलें तें चि कानीं । होय परिपाक मनीं ॥ध्रु.॥
कळवळा पोटीं । सावधान हितासाठीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भाव । त्याचा तो चि जाणां देव ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Blessed is the pure lineage; quickly turn and come back. Let what you have heard with your ears ripen within the mind. Let concern well up deep within, wakeful for your own welfare. Says Tuka, know that one's devotion itself is one's God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Blessed is the pure lineage; turn around quickly and come back. Let what you have heard with your ears ripen inside the mind. Let concern well up deep in you, wakeful for your own good. Tuka says: know that a person's own devotion is itself that person's God.
What it means
Tukaram is urging the listener to act on what they already know. Hearing the teaching is not enough; he wants it to settle and ripen in the mind until it changes you. The inner stir he calls for is a wakeful care for your own true welfare, not a vague feeling. His closing line lands the whole point: God is not somewhere outside waiting to be reached; the faith you carry is itself where God is found.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
More in this theme →