Exhortation, weigh the profit before death
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उद्यांचें आजि च मरण । आणोनि ह्मणे हरि भोक्ता ॥1॥
नाहीं कांहीं पडों येत तुटी । जाणें तो आहे सेवटीं ।
लाभ विचारोनि पोटीं। होई सेवटीं जागृत ॥ध्रु.॥
आहे ते उरे कटा । लावुनि चळ आपुला फाटा ।
पुरे हें न पुरे सेवटा । तरण्या बळकटा सदा वास॥2॥
ह्मणोनि मोडावा कांटाळा । अविद्यात्मक कोंवळा ।
होतील प्रबळा । आशा तृष्णा माया ॥3॥
क्षण या देहाच्या अंतीं। जड होउनि राहेल माती ।
परदेश ते परवर होती । चिळसविती नाकडोळे ॥4॥
जंव या नाहीं पातल्या विपित्त । आयुष्य भविष्य आहे हातीं ।
लाभ विचारोनि गुंती । तुका ह्मणे अंतीं सर्व पिसुनें॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Bring the thought of tomorrow's death into today and say that Hari is the one who sustains. There is no loss in this. Since the end is certain, consider the profit wisely and stay alert at the last hour. What you have, keep it; cut off the trailing tendrils of attachment. It will not suffice in the end, so hold firmly to the strong vessel of faith. Therefore, cast off the weariness of the ignorant, tender self. Desire, craving, and illusion will grow powerful if allowed. At the moment of the body's end, it will lie as inert clay. Those who were near will become strangers, covering nose and eyes in revulsion. While calamity has not yet struck, while the breath of life is still in your hands, weigh the gain and invest wisely. Says Tuka, in the end, everything is madness.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Bring tomorrow's death into today, and say that Hari is the one who provides. Then nothing is lost. Since the end is certain, weigh the profit in your heart and stay awake at the last. Keep what you truly have; cut away the trailing tendrils of attachment. It will not be enough at the end, so hold fast to the strong vessel of faith that always carries one across. So break the laziness of the ignorant, tender self; or else desire, craving, and illusion will grow strong. At the body's last moment it lies as inert clay. Those who were near become strangers, covering nose and eyes in disgust. While calamity has not yet struck, while breath and future are still in your hands, weigh the gain and invest wisely. Tuka says: in the end, all of it is madness.
What it means
Tukaram urges a sober accounting done now, while there is still time. He tells the listener to picture death as if it were today, which clarifies what is worth keeping and what is mere attachment to be cut away. The profit to seek is faith in Hari, the strong vessel that carries one across; everything else proves insufficient at the end. He paints the moment of death plainly: the body becomes inert clay and even those who loved you turn away in revulsion, so nothing worldly survives the crossing. The warning is that delay lets desire, craving, and illusion grow strong, and that without this reckoning the whole of a life spent otherwise is madness.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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