Final hour, total surrender to Hari
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आली लळिताची वेळ । असा सावध सकळ ॥१॥
लाहो करा वेगीं स्मरा । टाळी वाउनि विश्वंभरा ॥ध्रु.॥
जालिया अवसान । न संपडती चरण ॥२॥
तुकयाबंधु म्हणे थोडें । अवधि उरली आहे पुढें ॥३॥
करीं अंगीकार नको मोकलूं हरी । पतितपावन ब्रिदें करावीं खरीं ॥ध्रु.॥
नेणें भक्तिभाव तुझा म्हणवितों दास । जरि देसी अंतर तरि लज्जा कोणास ॥२॥
म्हणे तुकयाबंधु तुझे धरियेले पाये । आतां कोण दुजा ऐसा आम्हांसी आहे ॥३॥
आणीक प्रमाण नाहीं दुसरें आतां । योगक्षेमभार तुझे घातला माथां ॥ध्रु.॥
तूं च क्रियाकर्म धर्म देव तूं कुळ । तूं च तप तीर्थ व्रत गुरु सकळ ॥२॥
म्हणे तुकयाबंधु करिता कार्यता देवा । तूं च भाव भक्ति पूजा पुनस्कार आघवा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The hour of the final play has come; let everyone be alert. Hurry, remember the Lord of the universe and clap your hands in praise. Once life departs, these feet will not be found again. Says Tuka's brother, only a little time remains ahead. Accept me, O Hari; do not let me go. Make good your title of Redeemer of the fallen. I know nothing of devotion, yet I call myself your servant; if you abandon me, whose shame will it be? Says Tuka's brother, I have grasped your feet; who else is there for me now? There is no other proof or refuge remaining. I have placed the burden of my welfare upon your head. You are my action, my duty, my righteousness, my deity, my family. You are my penance, my pilgrimage, my vow, my guru, my all. Says Tuka's brother, O God who accomplishes all things, you alone are my devotion, my worship, my ritual, and my every offering.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The hour of the closing play has come. Everyone, be alert. Hurry, remember the Lord of the universe at once, clapping your hands. Once the breath is gone, these feet will not be found. Tuka's brother says: only a little time is left ahead. Take me as your own; do not let me go, Hari. Make your name, Savior of the fallen, come true. I know nothing of true devotion, yet I call myself your servant. If you turn me away, whose is the shame? Tuka's brother says: I have held your feet; who else is there for me now? There is no other proof, no other refuge left. I have laid the whole burden of my keeping on your head. You are my act and my duty, my religion, my God, my family. You are my penance, my pilgrimage, my vow, my guru, my everything. Tuka's brother says: God who does all things, you yourself are my faith, my devotion, my worship, and my every offering.
What it means
This composite prayer is spoken under the pressure of the last hour, the closing scene of life, and its watchword is be alert and remember God now, while a little time remains, because once the breath leaves, the feet cannot be reached. From that urgency the surrender deepens by stages. First the speaker reminds God of his own title, Savior of the fallen, and turns his own ignorance of true devotion into a claim on God: if a confessed servant is abandoned, the shame falls on the Lord, not the servant. Then he renounces every other support, placing the entire burden of his welfare on God's head alone. The final movement collapses all the usual props of religion into God himself: duty, penance, pilgrimage, vow, guru, family, even the worship and the offering are God and nothing apart from God. Signed by Tuka's brother, it leaves the devotee with no separate self-effort to lean on, only God doing everything.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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