Exhortation, fix the mind before the days run out
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वर्त्ततां बासर । काय करावें शरीर ॥1॥
ठेवा नेमून नेमून । माझें तुमचे पायीं मन ॥ध्रु.॥
नेदाविया वृत्ती । कोठें फांकों चि श्रीपती ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भले । जन्मा येऊनियां जाले ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
As the days pass, what use is this body? Keep your mind tied firmly to His feet. Do not let your awareness scatter in any direction, O Lord. Says Tuka, blessed are those who have made their birth worthwhile.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The days keep passing. What is this body finally good for? Set your mind, fixed and fixed again, on your feet. Do not let your awareness scatter anywhere, O Lord. Tuka says: blessed are those who, having come into this birth, have made it worthwhile.
What it means
Tukaram presses the shortness of life as a reason to act now. Days slip by and the body itself comes to nothing, so its mere upkeep is no answer. The one thing worth doing is to bind the mind firmly to God's feet and refuse to let attention wander off in every direction. The poem turns into a prayer, asking the Lord not to let the devotee's mind scatter. The claim it lands is what a human birth is for: those who use this life to keep the mind fixed on God are the ones who have truly made their birth count.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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