Mission, the open invitation to all
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कास घालोनी बळकट । झालों कळिकाळासी नीट । केली पायवाट । भवसिंधूवरूनि ॥१॥
या रे या रे लाहान थोर । याति भलते नारीनर । करावा विचार । न लगे चिंता कोणासी ॥ध्रु.॥
कामी गुंतले रिकामे । जपी तपी येथें जमे । लाविले दमामे । मुक्त आणि मुमुक्षा ॥२॥
एकंदर शिका । पाठविला इहलोका । आलों म्हणे तुका । मी नामाचा धारक ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Girding my loins firmly, I have confronted all-devouring Time and paved a path across the ocean of worldly existence. Come, come, all of you, small and great, men and women of every kind; no deliberation is needed, no one need worry. Those entangled in desire and those sitting idle, those who chant and those who practice austerities, all are assembled here; the liberated and the seekers of liberation alike. Says Tuka, I have been sent into this world as a single recruit; I am the bearer of the Name.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I girded my loins tight. I stood up straight to all-devouring Time. I made a footpath across the ocean of worldly life. Come, come, all of you, small and great. Come, men and women of every kind. No weighing is needed. No one need worry. Those caught in desire, those sitting idle, those who chant, those who do austerities, all gather here. The freed and the seekers of freedom alike. Tuka says: I have been sent into this world as a single recruit. I am the bearer of the Name.
What it means
Tukaram presents himself as a soldier who has stood up to death itself and beaten a path across the ocean of birth and death so that others can follow. The invitation is deliberately total: small and great, men and women, every kind of person, with no entrance exam and no need to qualify. He names them by their condition, the desire-bound, the lazy, the austere, the already free, precisely to say that none of these states bars the way. He claims a single commission, sent as one recruit into the world, and his whole equipment is the Name he carries and offers to all.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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