Exhortation, fill the vessel right
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तडामोडी करा । परि उत्तम तें भरा ॥1॥
जेणें खंडे एके खेपे । जाय तेथें लाभें वोपे ॥ध्रु.॥
दाविल्या सारिखें । मागें नसावें पारिखें ॥2॥
मागें पुढें ॠण । तुका ह्मणे फिटे हीण ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Make whatever compromises you must, but fill your vessel with what is truly excellent. Seek out that which settles the account in a single journey, where the profit exceeds the cost. What is shown on the surface should not be different from what lies behind. Says Tuka, in this way the debt of past and future lives is wiped clean.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Cut and trade as you must, but fill your vessel with what is truly good. Look for what settles the account in one journey, where the profit is greater than the cost. What you show on the surface should not differ from what lies behind. Tuka says: in this way the debt of past and future is wiped clean.
What it means
Tukaram speaks like a merchant counting his returns, then turns the figure toward the soul. Make whatever small compromises living requires, he says, but spend your effort on the one thing that pays in full, the Name and the love of God, which clears the whole account in a single venture. He sets one further condition: your inner life and your outer face must be the same, no hidden seam between them. Trade that way and the long debt of birth after birth is settled clean.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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