Warning, the road to ruin or the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अरे हें देह व्यर्थ जावें । ऐसें जरी तुज व्हावें । द्यूतकर्म मनोभावें । सारीपाट खेळावा ॥१॥
मग कैचें हरिचें नाम । निजेलिया जागा राम । जन्मोजन्मींचा अधम । दुःख थोर साधिलें ॥ध्रु.॥
विषयसुखाचा लंपट । दासीगमनीं अतिधीट । तया तेचि वाट । अधोगती जावया ॥२॥
अणीक एक कोड । नरका जावयाची चाड । तरी संतनिंदा गोड । करीं कवतुकें सदा ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे ऐसें । मना लावी राम पिसें । नाहीं तरी आलिया सायासें । फुकट जासी ठकोनी ॥४॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If you wish this body to go to waste, then play board-games and gamble with full devotion. Then where will you find the name of Hari? Even in sleep, Rama is awake for the wise, but one who is base birth after birth has earned only great sorrow. The one addicted to sensual pleasure and shameless in going to maidservants walks the path straight to the lowest hell. And if you have yet another longing to reach hell, then make a sweet habit of slandering the saints. Says Tuka, let your mind catch the madness of Rama; otherwise, having come here with such effort, you will depart empty-handed and deceived.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Listen: if you want this body to go to waste, then sit down and gamble and play your board games with all your heart. Then where will the Name of Hari be? For the wise, Rama stays awake even in sleep, but the man who is base birth after birth has earned only great sorrow. The one greedy for sense pleasure, bold in going to servant women, walks the very road down to the lowest place. And if you have one more craving, a craving to reach hell, then make slandering the saints your sweet daily sport. Tuka says: let your mind catch the madness of Rama. If not, then having come here with such effort, you will go empty-handed and cheated.
What it means
Tukaram preaches by daring the listener, listing the exact habits that throw a human life away as if recommending them. Gambling, slavery to sense pleasure, and above all slander of the saints are each named as a sure road downward, and the irony is the whip: if ruin is what you want, here is how to get it. Against this he sets the one thing that redeems the life, the Name, Rama who stays awake in the heart even when the body sleeps. The stakes he names are the human birth itself, won with great effort and easily squandered. The final plea is to let the mind go mad with Rama, because the only alternative is to leave this life robbed and deceived.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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