Exhortation, drop the ego and sit with God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मुकें होतां तुझ्या पदरीचें जातें । मूर्ख तें भोगितें मीमीपण ॥1॥
आपुलिये घरीं मैंद होऊनी बसे । कवण कवणासी बोलों नका ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मां सांगतों मी खुण । देवासी तें ध्यान लावुनि बसा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who was mute would have been carried in Your lap, but the foolish one suffers the consequences of his own ego. He sits in his own home like a fraud. Do not blame anyone else. Says Tuka, I tell you the secret: fix your attention on God and sit in contemplation.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If you stay silent, what was given into your lap is lost; the fool eats the fruit of his I-and-me. He sits in his own house playing the cheat. Do not go blaming this one and that one. Tuka says: I will tell you the secret. Fix your mind on God and sit there.
What it means
Tukaram is urging the listener to give up self-importance and turn the mind to God. The picture is of a person who lets the gift slip away and then suffers the consequences of his own ego, sitting at home behaving like a fraud. The remedy is not to keep accusing other people of this and that, since that is just more of the same self-deception. Tukaram then hands over the plain secret he keeps repeating: set your attention on God and sit in steady contemplation. The work is inward, not in finding fault outside.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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