Exhortation, the moth and the raft of stone
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
थडियेसी निघतां पाषाणांच्या सांगडी । बुडतां मध्यभागीं तेथें कोण घाली उडी ॥1॥
न करी रे तैसें आपआपणा । पतंग जाय वांयां जीवें ज्योती घालूनियां ॥ध्रु.॥
सावधपणें सोमवल वाटी भरोनियां प्याला । मरणा अंतीं वैद्य बोलावितो गहिला ॥2॥
तुकाह्मणे करीं ठायींचा चि विचार । जंवें नाहीं पातला यमाचा किंकर ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A raft of stones may carry you near the shore, but when it sinks in midstream, who will leap in to save you? Do not do this to yourself. A moth dies in vain by rushing into the flame. One who carelessly drinks poison in a full cup calls for a physician only when death draws near. Says Tuka, make your resolve now, while Yama's messenger has not yet arrived.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A raft of stones may carry you to the edge of the water, but when it sinks midstream, who will leap in to save you? Do not do this to yourself. The moth dies for nothing, throwing its life into the flame. Carelessly you fill the cup and drink the poison, and only when death is near do you send for the doctor in a panic. Tuka says: settle the matter now, here, before Yama's servant has arrived.
What it means
Tukaram strings together three pictures of a danger entered with open eyes. A raft of stone looks like passage but sinks in deep water, and no one will dive after you; the moth flies straight into the flame; the careless drinker swallows poison and calls a doctor only when it is too late. Each names the same pattern: trusting what cannot save, and waking to it past the hour of rescue. The urgency is the point. He tells you to settle the matter of your life now, while there is still time, before death's messenger stands at the door. It is a warning aimed at the habit of delay in oneself, not at any particular sinner.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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