Exhortation, the empty mouth and the blind eyes
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
किती सोसिती करंटीं । नेणों संसाराची आटी । सर्वकाळ पोटीं । चिंतेची हळहळ ॥1॥
रिकामिया तोंडें राम । काय उच्चारितां श्रम । उफराटा भ्रम । गोवी विषय माजिरा ॥ध्रु.॥
कळतां न कळे । उघडे झाकियेले डोळे । भरलें त्याचे चाळे । अंगीं वारें मायेचें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जन । ऐसें नांवबुिद्धहीन । बहुरंगें भिन्न । एकीं एक निमलें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How much do the wretched endure? They know not the torment of worldly life. Anxiety churns in the chitta at all times. What effort is there in uttering the name of Rama with an empty mouth? Inverted delusion entangles them in the snare of sense pleasures. Even when they understand, they do not truly see. Their eyes are open yet shut. The wind of illusion fills their being with its play. Says Tuka, such people are devoid of name and wisdom. In countless guises, one after another, they perish.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How much do the wretched suffer, not knowing the torment of worldly life, the worry burning in the heart all the while? What labor is it to say Rama with an empty mouth? An upside-down delusion ties them into the snare of the senses. Even when they understand, they do not truly see; their eyes are open and yet shut. The wind of Maya fills them and plays through them. Tuka says: such people are without true name and wisdom; in countless guises, one after another, they perish.
What it means
Tukaram grieves over how much people endure without recognizing the worldly life that grinds them, with anxiety smoldering in the heart day and night. He points out how little it would actually cost to say Rama, yet a backwards delusion keeps them tangled in the snare of the senses. The deepest charge is that even when they understand, they do not see: their eyes are open and blind at once, because the wind of Maya is blowing through them and moving them like a play. He ends on the stakes: lacking real name and real wisdom, such people slip through endless disguises and keep perishing, an exhortation meant to wake the listener rather than to despise anyone.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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