Warning, deceived and still asleep
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
किती वेळा खादला दगा । अझून कां जागसी ना ॥1॥
लाज नाहीं हिंडतां गांवें । दुःख नवें नित्य नित्य ॥ध्रु.॥
सवें चोरा हातीं फांसे । देखतां कैसे न देखसी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सांडिती वाट । तळपट करावया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How many times have you been deceived, and yet you still refuse to wake up? Have you no shame as you wander from village to village, meeting fresh misery every single day? The thieves walk right beside you with their snares in hand; how can you see and yet not see? Says Tuka, they are clearing the path only to bring about your ruin.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How many times have you been cheated? And still you will not wake. Have you no shame, wandering from village to village, meeting fresh misery every single day? The thieves walk right beside you with their nooses in hand. How can you see them and still not see? Tuka says: they are clearing the road only to bring you to ruin.
What it means
Tukaram presses the same warning harder, addressed to a self that keeps getting fooled and keeps going back to sleep. The wandering from village to village pictures a life of restless seeking that earns nothing but new sorrow each day. The danger walks alongside, snares ready, in plain view; the failure is not lack of sight but refusal to see what is in front of one. The closing line strips the comfort: the smooth path being opened ahead is not help but a trap laid for destruction. The sharpness is aimed at the pattern of self-deception, calling the listener to honest waking.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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