Social criticism, the wasted life
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दिवसा व्यापारचावटी । रात्री कुटुंबचिंता मोटी ॥1॥
काय करूं या मनासी । नाठवे हृषीकेशी ॥ध्रु.॥
वेश्येपाशीं रात्रीं जागे । हरिकीर्त्तनीं निद्रा लागे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे काय जालासी । वृथा संसारा आलासी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
By day he is absorbed in business and gossip; by night he is weighed down by worry over his family. What shall I do with this mind? It never remembers Hrishikesha. He stays awake all night at a courtesan's side, yet falls asleep the moment Hari's kirtan begins. Says Tuka, what has become of you? You have come into this world in vain.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
By day he is busy with business and gossip. By night the family's worries weigh heavy on him. What shall I do with this mind? It never remembers Hrishikesha. He stays awake all night beside a courtesan. He falls asleep the moment Hari's kirtan begins. Tuka says: what have you become? You have come into this world for nothing.
What it means
Tukaram lays out a single day and shows a life leaking away through it. The hours go to trade and chatter and household anxiety, and not one moment is given to God. He sharpens the charge with a pair of opposites: this man can stay awake all night for pleasure, yet sleep takes him the instant Hari's kirtan starts, which shows exactly where his heart is pointed. The closing question is aimed not at contempt but at self-examination: a human birth is the chance to remember God, and to spend it this way is to waste the chance entirely.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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