Exhortation, you are your own door
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भेऊनियां काय देखिलें येणें । मारें घायेंविण लोळतसे ॥1॥
आपणें चि तारी आपण चि मारी । आपण उद्धरी आपणयां ।
शुकनिळकेन्यायें गुंतलासी काय । विचारूनि पाहें मोकिळया ॥ध्रु॥
पापपुण्य कैसे भांजिले अख । दशकाचा एक उरविला ।
जाणोनियां काय होतोसी नेणता । शून्या ठाव रिता नाहीं नाहीं ॥2॥
दुरा दृष्टी पाहें न्याहाळूनि । मृगजला पाणी न ह्मणें चाडा ।
धांवतां चि फुटे नव्हे समाधान । तुका ह्मणे जाण पावे पीडा ॥3॥ ॥2॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What have you seen that frightens you so? You roll about wounded without anyone having struck you. You alone save yourself, you alone destroy yourself, you alone liberate yourself. Like a parrot caught in the trap of its own perception, examine yourself and find your freedom. The whole ledger of sin and virtue has been balanced into one. Knowing the truth, why do you pretend ignorance? In emptiness itself, there is no void. Says Tuka, look from a distance with a steady gaze; do not call a mirage water. The one who keeps chasing it finds no satisfaction and only suffers.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What have you seen that scares you so? You roll on the ground in pain, though no one has struck you. You alone save yourself; you alone destroy yourself; you alone lift yourself up. Like a parrot gripping the perch in its own trap, why are you caught? Look closely and you are already free. The whole ledger of sin and merit has been settled into one. Knowing this, why act as if you do not know? In emptiness there is no empty place; there is nothing missing. Look from a distance with a steady eye. Do not call a mirage water out of thirst. Whoever keeps running after it finds no peace. Tuka says: know this, he only meets pain.
What it means
Tukaram is telling the seeker that his bondage is self-made. The wounds he writhes from were not dealt by anyone outside; the fear has no real object. The image of the parrot is exact: the bird grips a turning perch and believes it is trapped, when letting go is all it ever needed, so the freedom is already there if one would look. Sin and merit, he says, finally balance into one, so there is no real lack to chase. The mirage warns against thirst that invents water where there is none; the one who keeps running after appearances finds only suffering, while steadiness and clear seeing end the chase.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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