Warning, do not obey the mind
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
होऊं नको कांहीं या मना आधीन । नाइकें वचन याचें कांहीं ॥1॥
हटियाची गोष्टी मोडून टाकावी । सोई ही धरावी विठोबाची ॥ध्रु.॥
आपुले आधीन करूनियां ठेवा । नाहीं तरि जीवा घातक हें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाले जे मना आधीन । तयांसी बंधन यम करी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Do not become a slave to this mind; do not heed its counsel. Break the demands of its stubbornness and hold fast to the path of Vithoba. Keep the mind under your own control; otherwise it will prove fatal to the jiva. Says Tuka, those who have surrendered to the mind's rule are bound by Yama in chains.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not become a slave to this mind. Do not listen to a word of its counsel. Break its stubborn demands and throw them away. Hold instead to the way of Vithoba. Keep the mind under your own control; if you do not, it is the killer of the jiva. Tuka says: those who became slaves to the mind are bound in chains by Yama.
What it means
Tukaram treats the mind as a master that must not be obeyed. Its counsel and its stubborn demands are to be refused and broken, and the path of Vithoba held in their place. The reason is stark: an uncontrolled mind is fatal to the jiva, the very thing that destroys the soul's life. He closes with the consequence, that those who surrendered their rule to the mind end up bound in Yama's chains. The call is to take back command of one's own mind rather than serve it.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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