Exhortation, the hard-won chance
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बहुजन्में केला लाग । तो हा भाग लाधलों ॥1॥
जीव देइन हा बळी । करीन होळी संसारा ॥ध्रु.॥
गेलें मग नये हाता । पुढती चिंता वाटतसे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तांतड करूं । पाय धरूं बळकट ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Through many lifetimes of striving, I have at last received this portion. I will offer my very life and make a bonfire of worldly existence. What is gone cannot be brought back; the thought of that fills me with urgency. Says Tuka, let us make haste and grasp those feet with a firm and mighty hold.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Through many lifetimes of striving I have at last been given this portion. I will offer up my very life and make a bonfire of worldly existence. What is gone can never be brought back, and that thought fills me with urgency. Tuka says: let us make haste, and take hold of those feet with a firm and mighty grip.
What it means
Tukaram treats the present chance, this human birth turned toward God, as the hard-won fruit of striving across many lives, and resolves to spend it completely: to offer his life and burn the whole of worldly existence like a bonfire. The urgency comes from a plain fact about time, that what is gone does not return, so a wasted moment is lost for good. The poem ends in action rather than reflection: make haste, and grip God's feet with everything you have. It is the resolve of someone who has understood that the opportunity is both rare and perishable.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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