Exhortation, the body that feeds you betrays you
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सोसें बहुगर्भवासीं । मेलों असों उपवासीं । नाहीं सखीं ऐसीं । तेथें कोणी भेटलीं ॥1॥
करीं करीं रे स्वहित । देह तंव हे अनित्य । नाहीं दिलें चित्त । सोडवूं मोहापासोनि ॥ध्रु.॥
पाळी तोंडऴिचया घांसें । तें चि होय अनारिसें । ज्या नव्हे ऐसें । खेदी परि सोडवीना ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे धनमानें । माझ्या बाटलों मीपणें । नाहीं दिला जनें । देखों लाभें हा लाभ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have suffered through many wombs, starving and dying. In those places no companion or friend ever appeared. Therefore, attend to your own salvation; this body is impermanent. You have not given your mind over to freeing yourself from delusion. That which feeds you mouthful by mouthful will one day become hostile; it torments you, yet it never sets you free. Says Tuka, blinded by my own wealth, honor, and ego, I have not recognized the true gain that lies before me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have suffered through many wombs, starving and dying. In those places no friend, no companion, ever met me. Do your own good, do it now: this body does not last. You have not given your mind to freeing yourself from delusion. The thing that feeds you mouthful by mouthful turns hostile in the end; it torments you and never sets you free. Tuka says: blinded by wealth, by honor, by my own I-ness, I did not see the real gain set right in front of me.
What it means
Tukaram preaches first against complacency by recalling the long agony of repeated births, where no friend ever came to help. From that he presses the one urgent task: tend to your own salvation now, because the body is impermanent and the mind has not yet been turned toward freedom from delusion. The sharp image is the body itself, fed mouthful by mouthful, which still turns against you and never grants release. He ends by turning the charge on himself, confessing that wealth, honor, and ego blinded him to the true gain lying right before him, so the warning is self-examination, not contempt.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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