Exhortation, one pure intention suffices
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांगतों तरि तुह्मी भजा रे विठ्ठला । नाहीं तरि गेला जन्म वांयां ॥1॥
करितां भरोवरी दुरावसी दुरी । भवाचिये पुरीं वाहावसी ॥2॥
कांहीं न लगे एक भाव चि कारण । तुका ह्मणे आण विठ्ठलाची ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I tell you, worship Vitthal. Otherwise, this birth has gone to waste. If you go on arguing, you will drift farther away and be swept along in the flood of worldly existence. Nothing elaborate is needed; pure intention alone is the key. Says Tuka, I swear by Vitthal Himself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am telling you: worship Vitthal. Otherwise this birth has gone to waste. If you keep arguing, you only move farther away and get swept along in the flood of worldly life. Nothing elaborate is needed; one pure feeling alone is the whole cause. Tuka says: I swear by Vitthal Himself.
What it means
Tukaram gives a plain, urgent instruction: worship Vitthal, or this human birth is thrown away. He warns that endless debating does not bring you nearer; it pushes you farther off and lets the current of worldly life carry you downstream. Against that, he says nothing complicated is required, no elaborate apparatus, because a single sincere feeling is the one thing that matters. He closes by staking his own word on it, swearing by Vitthal that this is true.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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