Exhortation, past the reach of advice
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शिकविलें तुम्हीं तें राहे तोंवरी । मज आणि हरी वियोग तों ॥१॥
प्रसंगीं या नाहीं देहाची भावना । तेथें या वचना कोण मानी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे चित्तीं बैसला अनंत । दिसों नेदी नित्य अनित्य तें ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What you taught held only so long as there was separation between me and Hari. In that moment, there is no awareness of the body. Who then would heed such words? Tuka says: Ananta is seated in my awareness. He does not let the impermanent appear as permanent.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The advice you gave me worked only while there was still a gap between me and Hari. Once that gap closes, the body is not even felt; who would listen to such counsel then? Tuka says: the endless one is seated in my awareness. He no longer lets me mistake what passes for what lasts.
What it means
Tukaram answers the well-meaning people who keep urging him to be sensible. Their advice was useful, he allows, but only at a stage he has now passed: the stage of separation, when one is still managing a self and a body. Once God is fully present, the body drops out of awareness and the old counsel has nothing left to grip. The last line names the real change: with God seated in his mind, he can no longer be fooled into treating the passing world as though it were permanent.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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