Exhortation, take the plunge into the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नको कांहीं पडों ग्रंथाचे भरीं । शीघ व्रत करीं हें चि एक ॥1॥
देवाचिये चाडे आळवावें देवा । ओस देहभावा पाडोनियां॥ध्रु.॥
उधाराचा मोक्ष होय नव्हे ऐसा । पतनासी इच्छा आवश्यक ॥3॥
रोकडी पातली अंगसंगें जरा । आतां उजगरा कोठवरि ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे घालीं नामासाठी उडी । पांडुरंग थडी पाववील ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Do not burden yourself with the weight of scriptures. Take up this one swift vow alone. For the sake of God, call upon God, emptying yourself of all body-consciousness. Salvation on credit, whether it comes or not, is uncertain, but the certainty of falling is guaranteed. Old age has arrived in person, pressing against the body; how long will you keep vigil? Says Tuka, take the plunge for the sake of the Name; Panduranga will bring you safely to shore.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not get buried under the weight of scriptures. Take up this one swift vow alone. For the sake of God, call out to God, laying your body-feeling waste. Liberation on credit may come or may not; the falling is sure. Old age has already arrived, pressing against your body; how long will you stay watchful? Tuka says: leap in for the sake of the Name. Panduranga will carry you to the far shore.
What it means
Tukaram urges a tired seeker to stop piling up book-learning and to take one fast, single vow instead: call on God, for God's own sake, emptying out the sense of being only this body. He warns against trusting deferred results, salvation bought on credit, which may or may not arrive, while the downward pull of decline is guaranteed. He points to the present fact that old age is already here, pressing on the body, so the time for delay is gone. The remedy is not more striving but a plunge: throw yourself into the Name. He promises that Panduranga himself will see you across to the far shore.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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