Worldly life, remember Rama in old age
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ह्मातारपणीं थेटे पडसें खोकला । हात कपाळाला लावुनि बैसे ॥1॥
खोबरियाची वाटी जालें असे मुख । गळतसे नाक श्लेष्मपुरी ॥ध्रु.॥
बोलों जातां शब्द नये चि हा नीट । गडगडी कंठ कफ भारी ॥2॥
सेजारी ह्मणती मरेना कां मेला । आणिला कांटाळा येणें आह्मां ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां सांडुनी सर्वकाम । स्मरा राम राम क्षणक्षणा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In old age come sneezing, colds, and coughing. He sits with his hand pressed to his forehead. His mouth has shriveled like a coconut shell, and mucus flows from his nose without cease. When he tries to speak, the words come out garbled, his throat rattling with phlegm. The neighbors say, why does this wretch not die already, he has brought us nothing but vexation. Says Tuka, abandon all other concerns now and remember Rama, Rama, every moment.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In old age come the running cold and the cough. He sits with his hand pressed to his brow. His mouth has shriveled like a coconut shell, and mucus runs from his nose in a stream. When he tries to speak the words will not come out straight; his throat rattles, thick with phlegm. The neighbors say, why does this wretch not just die? He has brought us nothing but disgust. Tuka says: now drop every other concern and remember Rama, Rama, every moment.
What it means
This is the last stage, and Tukaram spares nothing in showing the body's collapse: the endless cough, the shriveled mouth, the running nose, the speech gone to a phlegmy rattle. He even lets us hear the neighbors wishing the old man dead, to drive home how the world treats a body it no longer values. But the unsparing picture exists for the turn at the end: if childhood went in play and youth in pride, only this remains, to drop every other concern and say Rama, Rama, with every breath that is left. The point is not to mock the old man but to ask why we wait until then to begin.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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