Rebuke, the fool unready for death
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐसें ठावें नाहीं मूढा । सोस काकुलती पुढां ॥1॥
माझीं नका जाळूं भांडीं । पोटीं भय सोस तोंडीं ॥ध्रु.॥
पातलिया काळ । तेव्हां काय चाले बळ ॥2॥
संचित तें करी । नरका जाया मेल्यावरी ॥3॥
परउपकार । न घडावा हा विचार ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे लांसी । आतां भेटों नये ऐसी ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The fool does not understand; he is all sighs and pleading on the surface. Do not burn my vessels; the fear within and the sighs on the lips tell the truth. When death arrives, what use then is brute strength? He accumulates deeds that lead him to hell after death. The thought of serving others does not occur to him at all. Says Tuka, let me not encounter such a one ever again.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The fool does not know this. On the surface he is all sighs and pleading. Do not burn my vessels, he says; the fear inside and the sighs on his lips tell the truth. When death arrives, what use is brute strength then? He piles up the deeds that send him to hell after he dies. The thought of helping others never comes to him. Tuka says: let me never meet such a one again.
What it means
Tukaram draws a portrait of the person who lives without preparing for death, and names what is wrong with that pattern. Such a one is loud with surface sighs and pleading, while inside there is real fear; he clings to his possessions and is unwilling to part with anything. When death actually comes, no amount of force will help, yet all he has stored up is the kind of action that leads downward, never a thought of serving others. The point is self-examination: it asks each of us not to be the one who hoards and pleads but never turns toward true good or toward kindness.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
More in this theme →