Memento mori, the body falls away
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चालिले सोबती । काय मानिली नििश्चती ॥1॥
काय करिसी एकला । काळ सन्निध पातला ॥ध्रु.॥
कांहीं सावध तो बरवा । करीं आपुला काढावा ॥2॥
चालिले अगळे । हळू च कान केश डोळे ॥3॥
वोसरले दांत । दाढा गडबडल्या आंत ॥4॥
एकली तळमळ । जिव्हा भलते ठायीं लोळे ॥5॥
तुका ह्मणे यांणीं। तुझी मांडिली घालणी ॥6॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Your companions have already departed. What assurance have you taken? What will you do all alone when death stands near? It is wise to be alert now and find your own way out. One by one, your faculties are slipping away: ears, hair, and eyes grow feeble. Teeth have fallen, and the gums rattle inside. The tongue alone writhes in lonely agitation, rolling about aimlessly. Says Tuka, these companions of yours have plotted your downfall.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Your companions have already set out. What certainty have you settled on? What will you do alone, when death has come near? It is good to be watchful now. Work your own way out. They are leaving one by one: ears, hair, eyes, going slack. The teeth have worn down; inside, the back teeth rattle loose. The tongue alone keeps writhing, rolling about anywhere it likes. Tuka says: these companions of yours have begun to lay you out.
What it means
Tukaram makes the body itself preach on death. The companions who have already departed are friends and kin gone before, and the question he presses is what certainty you have stored up for when death stands beside you, with no one to help. Then he turns to the slow desertion of the senses: ears, eyes, hair, teeth, and tongue failing one by one, the very faculties you trusted abandoning you. He calls them companions too, and says they have begun to lay you out for the grave. The whole point is urgency: be alert now and find your own way out while there is still time.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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