Warning, the divided heart
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
प्रपंच परमार्थ संपादोनि दोन्ही । एक ही निदानीं न घडे त्यासी ॥1॥
दोहीं पेंवावरी ठेवूं जातां हात । शेवटीं अपघात शरीराचा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तया दोहींकडे धका । शेवटीं तो नरकामाजी पडे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who tries to succeed at both worldly life and spiritual life together will accomplish neither in the end. Reaching for two granary bins at once leads to an accident of the body. Says Tuka, such a person is shoved from both sides and finally falls into hell.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If you try to win at worldly life and the spiritual life both at once, you will not finish either one. Reach for two granary bins at the same time, and in the end your body comes to harm. Tuka says: such a person is shoved from both sides, and at last he falls into hell.
What it means
Tukaram is warning against the half-and-half life that keeps one foot in the world and one foot on the path. He says you cannot complete both at once; whoever tries finishes neither. His image is a man reaching for two grain bins together: he loses his balance and falls. The claim is sharp. To divide the heart this way is not safety but ruin, because the man pulled both directions ends up shoved from both sides into the worst place. The point is to choose, not to hedge.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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