Exhortation, warriors of Vitthal
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
येथें बोलोनियां काय । व्हावा गुरू तरि जाय ॥1॥
मज न साहे वांकडें । ये विठ्ठलकथेपुढें ॥ध्रु.॥
ऐकोनि मरसी कथा। जंव आहेसि तुं जीता ॥2॥
हुरमतीची चाड । तेणें न करावी बडबड ॥3॥
पुसेल कोणी त्यास । जा रे करीं उपदेश ॥4॥
आह्मी विठ्ठलाचे वीर । फोडूं किळकाळाचें शीर ॥5॥
घेऊं पुढती जन्म । वाणूं कीर्त मुखें नाम ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे मुक्ती । नाहीं आस चि ये चित्ती ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why speak so much here? If you want to be a guru, then go and be one. I cannot tolerate anything crooked before this sacred story of Vitthal. Listen to the discourse and die to yourself while you are still alive. If you care about your reputation, do not make a spectacle with empty babble. If someone asks you, go and instruct them. We are warriors of Vitthal; we will crush the head of Death himself. We will take birth again and again, singing his name and spreading his fame. Says Tuka, there is not even a trace of desire for liberation in my chitta.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why all this talk here? If you want to be a guru, then go off and be one. I cannot bear anything crooked before this story of Vitthal. Hear the discourse, and die to yourself while you are still alive. If you care for your good name, do not make a spectacle with empty babble. If someone asks you, go and instruct them. We are warriors of Vitthal; we will split the head of Death itself. We will take birth again and again, singing his fame, the Name in our mouths. Tuka says: in my heart there is not even a trace of longing for release.
What it means
Tukaram is driving out posturing from the kirtan hall. He has no patience for anything crooked set before Vitthal's story, and tells the would-be teacher to take his ambition elsewhere. The real instruction is to die to the self while still alive, to listen so deeply that the ego goes; empty chatter only shames the one who wants a reputation. Then he sounds the war cry: the devotees are Vitthal's soldiers who will break the head of Death himself. The most radical claim is last, and he does not thin it. He does not even want liberation; he asks instead to be born again and again, only to keep singing the Name.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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