Exhortation, wake up this lifetime
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भक्तिभावें करी बैसोनि नििश्चत । नको गोवूं चित्त प्रपंचासी ॥1॥
एका दृढ करीं पंढरीचा राव । मग तुज उपाव पुढिल सुचे ॥ध्रु.॥
नको करूं कांहीं देवतापूजन । जप तप ध्यान तें ही नको ॥2॥
मानिसील झणी आपलिक कांहीं । येरझार पाहीं न चुके कदा ॥3॥
ऐसे जन्म किती पावलासी देहीं । अझूनि का नाहीं कळली सोय ॥4॥
सोय घरीं आतां होय पां सावध । अनुभव आनंद आहे कैसा ॥5॥
सहज कैसें आहे तेथीचें तें गुज । अनुभवें निज पाहे तुकीं ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां होई तूं सावध । तोडीं भवबंध एका जन्में ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Sit in firm devotion and certainty. Do not entangle your mind in worldly affairs. Fix upon one thing alone: the King of Pandhari. Then the way forward will reveal itself to you. Do not perform any other deity-worship. Austerity, rituals, meditation, none of these are needed. If you claim anything as your own, the cycle of wandering will never cease. How many births have you taken in this body? Have you still not found the way? Come to your senses now and be alert. Experience for yourself the nature of that bliss. See the secret of that place through your own direct knowing. Says Tuka, now become awake and sever the bonds of worldly existence in this single lifetime.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Sit in firm devotion and certainty. Do not tangle your mind in worldly affairs. Hold to one thing alone: the King of Pandhari. Then the way forward will show itself. Do not worship any other deity. Austerity, ritual, meditation, you need none of these. If you claim anything as your own, the wandering will never stop. How many births have you taken in this body? Have you still not found the way? Come to your senses now. Be alert. Taste for yourself what that bliss is. See the secret of that place by your own knowing. Tuka says: now wake up, and break the bonds of this world in a single lifetime.
What it means
Tukaram shakes a seeker awake and gives a stripped-down path. Settle the mind in steady faith, keep it out of worldly entanglement, and hold to one object only, the King of Pandhari; the road then opens of itself. He sets aside the whole apparatus of other gods, austerities, rituals, and meditation as unnecessary here, and names the real obstacle: clinging to anything as mine, which keeps the cycle of rebirth turning. Then he presses the urgent question, how many lives have you already wasted without finding the way? He urges direct experience over secondhand learning, and insists the bonds of the world can be severed in this one lifetime if you wake up now.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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