Warning, the soul robbed in its sleep
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पैल घरीं जाली चोरी । देहा करीं बोंब ॥1॥
हाबा हाबा करिसी काये । फिराऊनि नेटएां वायें ॥ध्रु.॥
सांडुनियां शुद्धी। निजलासी गेली बुद्धी ॥2॥
चोरीं तुझा काढला बुर । वेगळें भावा घातलें दूर ॥3॥
भलतियासी देसी वाव । लाहेसि तूं एवढा ठाव ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे अझुनि तरी । उरलें तें जतन करीं ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A robbery has taken place in another man's house, yet it is your own body that raises the alarm. What good is all your shouting when it only exhausts you to no purpose? You fell asleep, abandoned awareness, and lost all good sense. Thieves have emptied your own treasury and cast your brother far away. You gave free rein to every passerby and thought yourself a man of great stature. Says Tuka, at least now, guard whatever still remains.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A robbery happened in another man's house, yet your own body raises the alarm. What use is all your crying out? It only wears you down for nothing. You let go of your senses. You fell asleep. Your good sense slipped away. Thieves have emptied your treasury and thrown your brother far off. You gave way to every passerby, and you thought yourself a man of great standing. Tuka says: at least now, guard what is still left.
What it means
Tukaram tells a parable of misplaced alarm. A man shouts about a theft next door while his own house is being stripped, an image for the soul that frets over others' affairs while its own inner wealth is stolen. The robbery happens precisely because he slept, abandoning awareness and losing discernment. The thieves are the passions he let walk in freely, even as his self-conceit told him he was someone important. The point turns on self-examination, not contempt: the warning is to wake up to one's own losses. Tukaram's mercy is in the last line, urging him to protect whatever remains before that is gone too.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
More in this theme →