Exhortation, the body of wet clay
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ओले मातीचा भरवसा । कां रे धरिशी मानसा ॥1॥
डोळे चिरीव चांगले । वृद्धपणीं सरवया जाले ॥ध्रु.॥
नाक सरळ चांगलें । येउन हनवटी लागलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आलें नाहीं । तंव हरिला भज रे कांहीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why do you place your trust in this body made of wet clay, O mortal? Those fine, sharp eyes will droop and blur in old age. That straight, handsome nose will bend down and touch the chin. Says Tuka, before that time arrives, worship Hari with whatever you have.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why do you trust this body of wet clay, O man? Those fine, cut eyes will dim and run in old age. That straight, handsome nose will droop and touch the chin. Tuka says: before that day comes, worship Hari with whatever you have.
What it means
Tukaram is pressing the brevity of the body against the urgency of practice. He calls the body wet clay to say it has no firmness worth trusting, and he walks through the slow ruin of the very features people prize, the sharp eyes that will blur, the fine nose that will sag to the chin. The stakes are time: the decay is certain and already on its way. So the instruction is to worship Hari now, before age arrives, with whatever one has, rather than waiting for a strength that is leaving.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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