Exhortation, sow the imperishable wealth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पिकवावें धन । ज्याची आस करी जन ॥1॥
पुढें उरे खातां देतां । नव्हे खंडण मवितां ॥ध्रु.॥
खोलीं पडे ओली बीज। तरीं च हातीं लागे निज ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे धनी । विठ्ठल अक्षरी हीं तिन्ही ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Cultivate that wealth which all people long for, which endures no matter how much is spent or given away, which cannot be diminished by any measure. When the seed falls into moist and deep soil, then the true treasure comes to hand. Says Tuka, the three syllables of Vitthal's name are the real treasure.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Grow the kind of wealth that all people long for, the wealth that is still there after you have eaten from it and given it away, that no measuring can ever cut down. When the seed falls into deep, moist soil, then the true treasure comes into your hand. Tuka says: the real wealth is the master himself, Vitthal, those three syllables.
What it means
Tukaram takes the farmer's logic everyone understands and turns it toward the one harvest that does not run out. Ordinary wealth shrinks as you spend and share it; this wealth only grows under spending and giving and cannot be lessened by any reckoning. The seed that must fall into deep, moist ground is the Name planted in a softened, ready heart. He names the crop outright: the three syllables of Vitthal are themselves the treasure and the owner of the field, so to sow that Name is to gain everything.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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