Exhortation, guard against the thief
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अवघे चि निजों नका अवघिये ठायीं । वेळ अवेळ तरी सांभाळावी कांहीं ॥1॥
जतन करा रे जतन करा । घालूं पाहे घरावरी घाला चोरटें ॥ध्रु.॥
सीतरिलीं फार खाती भोंवताले फेरे । गेलें नये हातां सेकीं तळमळ उरे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी करूं आपलें जतन । न लगे कांहीं कोणां द्यावें उघडा रे कान ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Do not all fall asleep in every corner; whether the hour be right or wrong, keep some watch. Guard yourselves, guard yourselves; a thief is preparing to raid the house. Wolves have been prowling all around; once something is lost, only anguish remains. Says Tuka, we will protect what is ours; no one else need be told. Just keep your ears open.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not all fall asleep in every corner; whether the hour is right or wrong, keep some watch. Guard it, guard it; a thief is looking to raid the house. Wolves are prowling all around, eating their fill; once a thing is gone it does not come back to hand, and only anguish remains at the end. Tuka says: we will guard what is ours. No one else needs to be told. Just keep your ears open.
What it means
Tukaram raises an alarm in the language of a village under threat of robbery. The sleepers are souls drowsing through their one chance, and the thief and the circling wolves are the forces that strip a life bare while it nods off. His warning is plain and urgent: stay awake, keep watch at every hour, because what is stolen here cannot be recovered, and what remains is only regret. The point of the metaphor is the inner wealth, the time and the heart turned toward God, which negligence quietly loses. He ends by taking responsibility for his own watch and asking only that others open their ears and do the same.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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