Exhortation, reverence in kirtan
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पानें जो खाईल बैसोनि कथेसी । घडेल तयासी गोहत्या ॥1॥
तमाखू ओढूनि काढला जो धूर । बुडेल तें घर तेणें पापें ॥ध्रु.॥
कीर्तनीं बडबड करील जो कोणी । बेडुक होउनी येइल जन्मा ॥2॥
जयाचिये मनीं कथेचा कंटाळा । होती त्या चांडाळा बहु जाच ॥3॥
जाच होती पाठी उडती यमदंड । त्याचें काळें तोंड तुका ह्मणे ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who chews betel leaf while sitting at a sacred discourse incurs the sin of cow-slaughter. One who smokes tobacco and blows its fumes will ruin his entire household by that sin. Whoever chatters during kirtan will be reborn as a frog. One whose mind is weary of the sacred story will suffer terrible torments. Says Tuka, those tormented by Yama's rod, their faces blackened with shame.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
One who sits at the sacred discourse chewing betel leaf earns the sin of killing a cow. One who smokes tobacco and blows out the smoke will sink his whole house by that sin. Whoever chatters during kirtan will be born again as a frog. The one whose mind is sick of the holy story suffers many torments. Torments fall on his back, the rod of Yama strikes him; his face is blackened, Tuka says.
What it means
Tukaram uses harsh, exaggerated penalties to drive home one thing: how a person treats the sacred discourse reveals what is in the heart. Chewing betel, smoking and puffing smoke, chattering through the kirtan, growing bored of the holy story; these are the small contempts he piles up, and he answers each with an outsized punishment, down to rebirth as a frog and Yama's rod on the back. The point is not literal bookkeeping of sins but a warning to examine your own restlessness: the inattention you bring to God's presence is itself the disease. Read it against your own wandering mind, not as a charge sheet against the person next to you.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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