Exhortation, the knots are your own
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अइकाल परी ऐसें नव्हे बाई । न संडा या सोई भ्रताराची ॥१॥
नव्हे आराणुक लौकिकापासून । आपुल्या आपण गोविलें तें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे मन कराल कठीण । त्या या निवडोन मजपाशीं ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Listen, but it is not so easy, dear one. Do not abandon the care of your husband. This is no mere withdrawal from social reputation. You have entangled yourself, by yourself. Tuka says: if you will make your mind firm, then come to me, having disentangled yourself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Listen, but it is not as easy as that, dear one. Do not just walk out on your husband and your duties. This is not only a matter of giving up your good name; you tied these knots yourself, with your own hands. Tuka says: if you can truly make your mind firm, then untangle yourself first, and come to me.
What it means
A correction to anyone who heard the earlier poems as simple permission to abandon their responsibilities. Tukaram, still in the woman's frame, says the path is harder than it looks. The bonds of an ordinary life were not tied by others; you made them yourself, and you must actually loosen them, not merely shrug off your reputation. The invitation stands, but with a condition: come only when the mind is genuinely firm and the knots are genuinely undone. Otherwise the gesture is empty.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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