Exhortation, ready cash of grace
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जीवित्व तें किती । हें चि धरितां बरें चित्तीं ॥1॥
संत सुमनें उत्तरें । मृदु रसाळ मधुरें ॥ध्रु.॥
विसांवतां कानीं । परिपाक घडे मनीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जोडी । हाय जतन रोकडी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How long is this life? Hold this firmly in your chitta. The words of the saints are flowers: gentle, rasa-filled, and sweet. When they settle in the ears, they ripen in the mind. Says Tuka, this is a ready gain; it is immediate cash. Guard it well.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How long is this life? Hold this firmly in your mind. The words of the saints are flowers: gentle, full of sweetness, sweet to the taste. When they rest in your ears, they ripen in the mind. Tuka says: this is a gain ready in hand; it is cash you can spend now. Guard it well.
What it means
Tukaram opens by making life's shortness the reason to listen now. He likens the saints' words to flowers, soft and sweet, and says that once they settle in you they ripen into something living in the mind. The force of the poem is in the last line: he calls this a ready gain, like cash in hand rather than a promise for later. So he tells you to guard it, because what is immediately available is also easily lost.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
More in this theme →