Exhortation, clear the road first
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आधीं सोज्वळ करावा मारग । चालतां तें मग गोवी नाहीं ॥1॥
ऐसा चालोनियां आला शिष्टाचार । गोवीचा वेव्हार पापपुण्य ॥ध्रु.॥
पळणें तों पळा सांडुनि कांबळें । उपाधीच्या मुळें लाग पावे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येथें शूर तो निवडे । पडिले बापुडे कालचक्रीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
First clear the path, and then walking will be free of entanglement. This is the way tradition has always walked, for the trade of sin and merit creates only confusion. When fleeing, flee and drop the blanket; attachment is the root that lets trouble catch up. Says Tuka, the brave one is the one who prevails here; the rest fall prey to the wheel of time.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
First make the road clean, and then walking it will hold no snares. This is how the right way has always gone, for the trade in sin and merit only tangles you. When you must flee, flee, and drop the blanket; attachment is the root that lets trouble catch you. Tuka says: here the brave one comes through; the rest fall under the wheel of time.
What it means
Tukaram lays out the discipline of the path with a traveler's bluntness. Clear the way before you set out, by settling your conduct, and the walking itself stays free of entanglement; the old, tested way warns that fussing over sin and merit only ties you in knots. His vivid image is flight: when you run, let the blanket go, because the one thing you cling to is exactly what lets the pursuer grab you. The closing line names the stakes plainly. Only the brave, those willing to drop their attachments, get clear; everyone else is ground down by time.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
More in this theme →