Exhortation, the world-yogi's round
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जग जोगी जग जोगी । जागजागे बोलती ॥१॥
जागता जगदेव । राखा कांहीं भाव ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघा क्षेत्रपाळ । पूजा सकळ ॥२॥
पूजापात्र कांहीं । फल पुष्प तोय ॥३॥
बहुतां दिसां फेरा । आला या नगरा ॥४॥
नका घेऊं भार । धर्म तो चि सार ॥५॥
तुका मागे दान । द्या जी अनन्य ॥६॥
सरवदा - अभंग १
एका गा ए भाई । सरवदा सांगतो काई । येथें नाडेल माई । दोघां पुत्रांची ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The world-yogi calls out: wake, wake! The Lord of the world is awake; keep some devotion in reserve. Worship the guardian of all the fields. Offer something as worship: a flower, a fruit, or water. After many days the yogi's round has come again to this town. Do not take on the burden of refusal; righteousness alone is the essence. Says Tuka, I ask for one gift: give me your undivided surrender.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
World-yogi, world-yogi, calling out, awake, awake. The Lord of the world is awake; keep some devotion in reserve. He is the guardian of every field; worship them all. Offer something as worship: a fruit, a flower, water. After many days the round has come again to this town. Do not take on the weight of refusal; dharma alone is the essence. Tuka asks for a gift: give, please, your undivided self. Listen, brother. What does he keep saying, over and over? Here the mother of two sons will be cheated.
What it means
The poem is sung in the persona of the wandering 'world-yogi' who comes calling people awake. Its core is the same plea found in the other alms songs: God is awake and watching, so keep some devotion in store and offer something, even a fruit or a flower or water, since it is the gesture, not the value, that counts. Tukaram presses that 'dharma alone is the essence,' so giving rightly is the whole point of worldly life. The single gift he actually asks for is the highest one, undivided surrender of the self. The closing line shifts to a sharper warning that the careless will be cheated, pointing the listener toward not letting this recurring chance slip by unanswered.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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