Exhortation, wake to your own good
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चुकलिया ताळा । वाती घालुनि बैसे डोळां ॥1॥
तैसें जागें करीं चित्ता । कांहीं आपुलिया हिता ॥ध्रु.॥
निक्षेपिलें धन। तेथें गुंतलेसे मन ॥2॥
नाशिवंतासाटीं । तुका ह्मणे करिसी आटी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When the rhythm is lost, one sits rubbing one's eyes. In the same way, awaken your mind to your own welfare. The mind is caught up wherever its treasure is hoarded. Says Tuka, for the sake of the perishable, why do you torment yourself so?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the beat is lost, you sit rubbing your eyes. In the same way, wake your mind up to your own good. Wherever your treasure is buried, there your mind stays caught. Tuka says: for the sake of what perishes, why do you wear yourself out?
What it means
Tukaram opens with the image of a musician who loses the rhythm and sits dazed, fumbling, to picture a mind asleep to its own welfare; he tells you to wake it. He notes the simple law of the heart, that the mind clings wherever it has stored its treasure, so it follows whatever you value. The closing question is the whole point, that you exhaust yourself laboring and fretting for things that will perish, when the same attention turned toward the imperishable would be your real good. The exhortation is to relocate the treasure, and the mind, to God.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
More in this theme →