Exhortation, fix on the One
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बहुत सोसिले मागें न कळतां । पुढती काय आतां अंध व्हावें ॥1॥
एकाचिये अंगीं हें ठेवावें लावून । नये भिन्न भिन्ना चांचपडो ॥ध्रु.॥
कोण होईल तो ब्रह्मांडचाळक । आपणें चि हाके देईल हाके ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे दिलीं चेतवूनि सुणीं । कौतुकावांचूनि नाहीं छळ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have suffered much in the past through ignorance. Now, going forward, should I remain blind? Fix your attention on the One alone; do not grope about among many different things. The one who moves the entire cosmos will Himself respond when called. Says Tuka, He has roused the hounds and set them running. Without the sport of it, there is no tormenting.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have suffered much in the past, not knowing better. Should I stay blind from here on? Fix yourself on the One alone. Do not go groping among many separate things. The one who turns the whole universe will himself answer when you call him. Tuka says: he has roused the hounds and set them running. Without his play, there is no torment.
What it means
Tukaram looks back on a life of suffering caused by ignorance and refuses to repeat it going forward. The remedy he names is single-pointedness: rest your attention on the one God rather than scattering it among many divided objects and concerns. He trusts that the very power that moves the cosmos will personally respond to a call, so the seeker is not abandoned. The closing image is harder: the hardships that chase us are themselves set in motion by God, like hounds loosed by their master. The point for self-examination is that even the torment is part of his sport, so it can be borne by turning to him rather than fleeing it.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
More in this theme →