Exhortation, imitation without feeling
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आमचा विनोद तें जगा मरण । करिती भावहीण देखोवेखीं ॥१॥
न कळे सतंत हिताचा विचार । तों हे दारोदार खाती फेरे ॥ध्रु.॥
वंदिलें वंदावें निंदिलें निंदावें । एक गेलें जावें त्याचि वाटा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कोणी नाइके सांगतां । होती यमदूता वरपडे ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What is playful sport to us is death to the world; those without inner feeling imitate us blindly without understanding. Until one grasps the wisdom of what truly benefits the soul, one wanders uselessly from door to door. Whatever is praised they praise, whatever is blamed they blame; wherever one goes, they follow the same beaten path. Says Tuka, no one listens when you warn them, and so they fall prey to the messengers of Death.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What is playful sport to us is death to the world. Those with no inner feeling imitate us blindly, by sight alone. Until a man grasps what truly helps the soul, he wanders uselessly from door to door. Whatever others praise, they praise; whatever others blame, they blame; wherever the crowd goes, they follow the same beaten path. Tuka says: no one listens when you warn them, and so they fall prey to the messengers of Death.
What it means
Tukaram is exposing devotion done by imitation rather than from the heart. What the realized do as free, joyful sport becomes deadly when the feelingless copy it by sight alone, mimicking the outward acts without the inner life that makes them safe. Such a person, never grasping what actually benefits the soul, drifts from door to door and simply echoes the crowd: praising what is praised, blaming what is blamed, treading the worn path everyone treads. The warning is urgent because no one heeds it, and the unexamined herd ends up seized by the messengers of Death. The verse calls the reader to find the inner feeling, not just the gestures.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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