Marketplace metaphor, buy before nightfall
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
घ्या रे भाई प्या रे भाई । कोणी कांहीं थोडें बहु॥1॥
ये च हाटीं ये च हाटीं । बांधा गाठी पारखून ॥ध्रु.॥
वेच आहे वेच आहे । सरलें पाहे मग खोटें ॥2॥
उघडें दुकान उघडें दुकान । रात्री जाली कोण सोडी मग ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे अंतकाळीं । जाती टाळीं बैसोनि ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Take it, brothers, drink it, brothers, some a little, some a lot. At this very market, at this very market, test it and tie the knot. The stock is open, the stock is open; once it runs out, everything turns false. The shop is open, the shop is open; once night falls, who will unlock it again? Says Tuka, at the hour of death, those who waited will sit there clapping in regret.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Take it, brothers, drink it, brothers, some of you a little, some a lot. At this very market, at this very market, test the goods and tie up your bundle. The stock is here, the stock is here; once it runs out, what is left turns false. The shop is open, the shop is open; once night falls, who will unlock it again? Tuka says: at the hour of death, those who waited will sit there clapping in regret.
What it means
Again the Name is offered as goods at an open market, free for anyone to take as much as they can hold. Tukaram urges the listeners to test it and tie it up now, while the shop is open, because the supply does not last: when the stock is gone or the day ends, nothing genuine remains and no one will reopen the door. The closing image is the cost of delay: those who put it off will sit at the hour of death striking their hands together in helpless regret. The whole poem is one long warning against treating the chance as something that will always be there.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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