Exhortation, stop the chatter and listen
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नको बोलों भांडा । खीळ घालुन बैस तोंडा ॥1॥
ऐक विठोबाचे गुण । करीं सादर श्रवण ॥ध्रु.॥
प्रेमसुखा आड । काय वाजातें चाभाड ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे हिता । कां रे नागवसी थीता ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Stop your bickering and put a lock on your mouth. Listen to the virtues of Vithoba; lend your ears with reverence. Why do you beat your chatterbox tongue against the bliss of love? Says Tuka, why do you cheat yourself out of your own certain welfare?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Stop arguing. Put a bolt on your mouth and sit. Listen to the virtues of Vithoba; listen with all your attention. Why beat your useless tongue against the bliss of love? Tuka says: why, then, do you cheat yourself out of the very good that is already yours?
What it means
Tukaram is scolding the restless, arguing mind and telling it to be quiet. He says bolt your mouth and sit, then turn that same attention to hearing Vithoba's praises with reverence. The endless chatter, he says, is being beaten uselessly against a bliss that is right there to be received. The closing line names the loss: the welfare is certain and already yours, and by talking instead of listening you rob yourself of it.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
More in this theme →