Exhortation, the forgotten death
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वाटे या जनाचें थोर बा आश्चर्य । न करिती विचार कां हिताचा ॥1॥
कोण दम ऐसा आहे यांचे पोटीं । येईल शेवटीं कोण कामा ॥ध्रु.॥
काय मानुनियां राहिले नििंश्चती । काय जाब देती यमदूतां ॥2॥
कां हीं विसरलीं मरण बापुडीं । काय यांसी गोडी लागलीसे ॥3॥
काय हातीं नाहीं करील तयासी ॥ काय जालें यांसी काय जाणों ॥4॥
कां हीं नाठविती देवकीनंदना । सुटाया बंधनापासूनियां ॥5॥
काय मोल यासी लागे धन वित्त । कां हें यांचें चित्त घेत नाहीं ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे कां हीं भोगितील खाणी ॥ कां त्या चक्रपाणी विसरलीं ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am greatly amazed at these people. Why do they not consider what is good for them? What confidence do they carry in their bellies? Who will come to their aid in the end? What certainty makes them so complacent? What answer will they give to Yama's messengers? Have these wretches forgotten death? What sweetness have they found in this world? Is it not in their hands to do what must be done? What has happened to them, I do not know. Why do they not remember the son of Devaki and free themselves from their bonds? Does it cost them any wealth or riches? Why does their chitta not take hold of this? Says Tuka, why will they fall into the pits of rebirth? Why have they forgotten Chakrapani?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am amazed at these people. Why do they not think about their own good? What confidence do they carry inside? Who will come to help them at the end? What certainty makes them so calm? What answer will they give to Yama's messengers? Have these poor souls forgotten death? What sweetness have they found in this world? Is it not in their own hands to do what must be done? What has happened to them, I do not know. Why do they not remember the son of Devaki and free themselves from their bonds? Does it cost them any wealth or money? Why does their mind not take hold of this? Tuka says: why will they fall into the pits of rebirth? Why have they forgotten Chakrapani?
What it means
Tukaram is shaking the comfortable awake. He cannot understand the calm of people who never once think about what their own good actually is, who carry some unspoken confidence in the belly while no one will be there to help them at the last moment. He keeps pressing one fact they have managed to forget: death, and the messengers of Yama who will ask for an accounting. The release he points to costs nothing, no wealth, no money, only the remembering of God, the son of Devaki, Chakrapani; so the only thing that explains the neglect is a spell of forgetfulness. The question is meant to turn back on the listener: why do I too keep finding sweetness here and putting off the one thing that frees me?
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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