Exhortation, no joy in the world
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुख नाहीं कोठें आलिया संसारीं । वांया हांवभरी होऊं नका ॥1॥
दुःखबांदवडी आहे हा संसार । सुखाचा विचार नाहीं कोठें ॥ध्रु.॥
चवदा कल्पेंवरी आयुष्य जयाला । परी तो राहिला ताटीखालीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वेगीं जाय सुटोनियां । धरूनि हृदयामाजी हरि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
There is no happiness anywhere in this worldly life; do not be carried away by vain ambition. This world is a colony of suffering; there is no place here for lasting joy. Even one whose life spans fourteen cosmic ages ended up crushed beneath death's door. Says Tuka, free yourself quickly by holding Hari within your heart.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
There is no happiness anywhere once you have come into this worldly life. Do not be swept away by vain craving. This world is a prison-house of sorrow; there is no real joy to be found here. Even one whose life lasts fourteen cosmic ages was still crushed beneath the door of death. Tuka says: free yourself quickly by holding Hari within your heart.
What it means
Tukaram strips away the hope that worldly life can be made to yield happiness. He calls the world a prison of sorrow and warns against vain craving, because the search for lasting joy here always comes up empty. To show how absolute death's reach is, he points to the one whose life spans fourteen cosmic ages: even that vast lifetime ended crushed under death's door, so length of days saves no one. The single way out he names is to hold Hari in the heart, and he urges that it be done quickly, before the moments run out. The harshness is meant to turn the hearer toward the one thing that lasts.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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