The belly, hunger that follows everywhere
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पोट लागलें पाठीशीं । हिंडवितें देशोदेशीं ॥1॥
पोटाभेणें जिकडे जावें । तिकडे पोट येतें सवें ॥ध्रु.॥
जप तप अनुष्ठान। पोटासाटीं जाले दीन ॥2॥
पोटें सांडियेली चवी । नीचापुढें तें नाचवी ॥3॥
पोट काशियानें भरे । तुका ह्मणे झुरझुरूं मरे ॥4॥
आरत्या ॥ 13 ॥
जगदेश जगदेश तुज ह्मणती । परि या जनामाजी असशील युक्ति ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The belly clings to the back with hunger, driving one to wander from land to land. Wherever one goes out of fear of the belly, the belly comes right along. Prayer, penance, and ritual observance all become servants of the belly. The belly has cast aside all dignity; it makes a person dance before the lowly. Says Tuka, what can ever truly fill this belly? It simply wastes away, trembling unto death.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The belly clings to my back with hunger and drives me wandering from land to land. Wherever I run out of fear of the belly, the belly comes right along with me. Prayer, penance, and ritual all become its servants. The belly has thrown away every dignity; it makes a person dance before the lowly. Tuka says: what can ever truly fill this belly? It only wastes away, trembling toward death.
What it means
Tukaram looks plainly at how hunger bends a life. The belly is pictured as so empty it sticks to the spine, and it owns the man: he flees it, but it travels with him wherever he goes. He names the sharp shame in this, that even prayer, penance, and ritual get pressed into the belly's service, and that hunger will make a proud person dance and grovel before people he despises. The closing question is the bitter point: nothing ever truly fills the belly, it just keeps wasting and trembling toward death. He is not mocking the hungry; he is exposing how bodily need can quietly become the master that hollows out dignity and even devotion.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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