Exhortation, take the imperishable good
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
थोडें परी निरें । अविट तें घ्यावें खरें ॥१॥
घ्यावें जेणें नये तुटी । बीज वाढे बीजा पोटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
चित्त ठेवीं ग्वाही । आणिकांशीं चाड नाहीं ॥२॥
आपलें तें हित फार । तुका म्हणे खरें सार ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Take what is small but pure; accept what is genuine and unfading. Take that which knows no depletion, where the seed multiplies within the seed. Keep your mind as witness; there is no need for anything else. Says Tuka, to know one's own true welfare is the real essence.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Take what is small but pure; take what is real and never goes stale. Take the thing that never runs out, where the seed grows more seed inside itself. Keep your own mind as the witness; you need nothing and no one else for this. Your true good is the great thing. Tuka says: that is the real essence.
What it means
Tukaram is telling the listener what to choose and what to ignore. He sets a small, pure, inexhaustible good against everything large but perishable: take the thing that does not run dry, the seed that keeps multiplying within itself, which is the Name and the inner devotion it feeds. He insists the test is internal: your own steadied mind is the only witness you need, so do not look to others for permission or proof. To know and seize your own true welfare, he says, is the whole essence of the matter.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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