Exhortation, only enough for the belly
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पोटापुरतें काम । परि अगत्य तो राम ॥1॥
कारण तें हें चि करीं । चित्तीं पांडुरंग धरीं ॥ध्रु.॥
प्रारब्धी हेवा । जोडी देवाची ते सेवा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बळ । बुद्धी वेचूनि सकळ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Work only as much as the belly requires, but let your true urgency be for Rama. This alone is the essential task: hold Panduranga in the chitta. Let destiny handle the rest; invest your effort in the service of God. Says Tuka, spend all your strength and buddhi on this service.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Work only as much as the belly needs, but let your real urgency be for Rama. This alone is the task that matters: hold Panduranga in the mind. Leave destiny to handle the rest; invest yourself in the service of God. Tuka says: spend all your strength and all your understanding on this.
What it means
Tukaram is ordering priorities, not abolishing work. He grants that one must labor enough to feed the body, but he reserves real urgency for Rama, naming devotion as the one task that counts. He tells you to stop wrestling with outcomes and let destiny carry what it will, putting your effort instead into serving God. The close raises the demand: not a portion but the whole of your strength and intelligence is to be spent here.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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