Worldly life, craving exiles the soul
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मान इच्छी तो अपमान पावे । अमंगळ सवे अभाग्याची॥1॥
एकाचिये अंगीं दुजियाचा वास । आशा पुढें नाश सिद्ध करी ॥ध्रु.॥
आधीं फळासी कोठें पावों शके । वासनेची भिकेवरी चाली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे राजहंस ढोरा नांव । काय तया घ्यावें अळंकाराचें ॥3॥
संसारापासूनि कैसें सोडविशी । न कळे हृषीकेशी काय जाणें । करितां न सरे अधिक वाट पाहीं ।
तृष्णा देशधडी केलों। भक्तिभजनभाव यांसी नाहीं ठाव । चरणीं तुझ्या अंतरलों।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He who craves honor receives only dishonor; misfortune is the constant companion of the unlucky. When one depends on another for fulfillment, desire leads only to ruin. How can one reach the fruit when one walks the road of craving like a beggar? Says Tuka, can a donkey given the title of a royal swan know anything of ornaments? How will You free me from this worldly existence, O Hrishikesha? I cannot tell. The more I strive, the longer the road grows. Thirst has exiled me far away. Devotion and worship find no place in me; I have been separated from Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The one who hungers for honor gets only dishonor; bad luck keeps company with the wretched. When you lean on another to fill you, desire only sets up your ruin. How can you reach the fruit when your craving walks the road like a beggar? Tuka says: call a donkey a royal swan, what would the donkey know of ornaments? How will you free me from this worldly life, O Hrishikesha? I do not know, and the more I try, the longer the road grows. Thirst has driven me out of my own country. Devotion and worship find no room in me; I have fallen away from your feet.
What it means
Tukaram traces how craving turns back on itself: the man who hungers for honor reaps dishonor, and depending on others to fill you only prepares your ruin. His donkey-called-a-swan jibe is aimed at the pattern, not at any one person: a title cannot make craving noble, just as a fine name cannot teach a beast the meaning of ornaments. Then the tone turns inward and desperate. He asks Hrishikesha to free him from worldly existence and confesses that his own effort only lengthens the road. The closing line names the wound under all of it: thirst, restless desire, has exiled him from himself, crowding out devotion and carrying him away from God's feet.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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