Exhortation, the body is on loan
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
रंगीं रंगें रे श्रीरंगे । काय भुललासी पतंगें ॥1॥
शरीर जायांचें ठेवणें । धरिसी अभिळास झणें ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हे तुझा हा परिवार । द्रव्य दारा क्षणभंगुर ॥2॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O soul, be dyed in the color of Shrirang. Why are you infatuated like a moth drawn to flame? This body is only a temporary deposit; do not hold undue desire for it. Your family, wealth, and spouse are not truly yours; they are all fleeting.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
O soul, be dyed in the color of Shrirang. Why are you fooled like a moth flying into the flame? This body is only a thing left on deposit. Do not cling to it with greedy desire. This household is not really yours. Wealth and wife break in a moment.
What it means
Tukaram urges the soul to soak itself in God, Shrirang, instead of rushing toward what destroys it like a moth at the lamp. The body, he says, is not owned but held on deposit, to be returned, so it is folly to crave and hoard it. Family, wealth, and spouse look solid but can shatter in an instant. The warning is not contempt for these things; it is a call to fix desire on the one color that does not fade and to hold the passing world with an open hand.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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