Exhortation, seek your good first
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कोरडिया ऐशा सारून गोष्टी । करा उठाउठीं हित आधीं ॥1॥
खोळंबला राहे आपुला मारग । पहावी ते मग तुटी कोठें ॥ध्रु.॥
लौकिकाचा आड येईल पसारा । मग येरझारा दुःख देती ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे डांख लागे अळंकारें । मग नव्हे खरें पुटाविण ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Put aside these dry, empty conversations and attend to your true welfare first. When the right path is blocked, the traveler stalls; then see where the real loss lies. The grand display of worldly appearances will come in the way, and then the restless coming and going will bring only sorrow. Says Tuka, ornament only causes scratching; without being tested in fire, nothing proves genuine.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Put these dry, empty talks aside. Get up at once and tend to your true good first. When the road is blocked, the traveler stalls. Then look, and see where the real loss lies. The wide show of worldly things will get in your way. After that, the restless coming and going gives you only sorrow. Tuka says: ornaments only cause scratching; until it is tested in the fire, nothing proves true.
What it means
Tukaram is calling for urgency about the one thing that matters. He tells you to drop idle, empty conversation and attend first to your real welfare, because the longer you delay, the more the road of your life stays blocked and you stall. He warns that the spread of worldly appearances will get in the way and leave you with the weariness of endless coming and going. The closing image makes the stakes plain: ornament merely scratches, and gold is known to be genuine only when it has passed through fire. So too a life: it is proved true only when it has been tested, not by its outer show.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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