Worldly life, the prayer for one foothold
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सर्वसुखाचिया आशा जन्म गेला । क्षण मुक्ती यत्न नाहीं केला । हिंडतां दिशा सीण पावला । मायावेिष्टला जीव माझा ॥1॥
माझें स्वहित नेणती कोणी । कांहीं न करितां मजवांचुनी । स्वजन तंव सुखमांडणी । नेणती कोणी आदि अंत ॥ध्रु.॥
काय सांगों गर्भीची यातना । मज भोगितां नारायणा । मांस मळ मूत्र जाणा । तुज क्षणक्षणा ध्यात असें ॥2॥
मज चालतां प्रयाणकाळीं। असतां न दिसती जवळी । मृित्तके मृित्तका कवळी । एकले मेळीं संचिताचे ॥3॥
आतां मज ऐसें करीं गा देवा । कांहीं घडे तुझी चरणसेवा । तुका विनवीतसे केशवा । चालवीं दावा संसारें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My whole life has passed in the pursuit of every pleasure, yet not a moment's effort was made toward liberation. Wandering in all directions, I grew weary. My soul is entangled in maya. No one knows my true welfare; without my own effort nothing can be done. Relatives are merely arrangements of comfort; none of them know my beginning or end. How shall I describe the torment of the womb, O Narayana? Dwelling amid flesh, filth, and urine, I remembered You every moment. When my final journey comes, those who were near will not be seen. Earth embraces earth, and one travels alone with one's accumulated deeds. Now, O God, grant me this much: let some service at Your feet come to pass. Says Tuka, appealing to Keshava, guide me through this worldly trial.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My whole life has gone in hoping for every kind of pleasure. I made no effort, not for a moment, toward liberation. Wandering in all directions, I grew tired. My soul has been wrapped up by maya. No one knows my true good. Nothing can be done about it except by me. My own people are only an arrangement of comfort. None of them knows my beginning or my end. How can I tell the torment of the womb that I suffered, O Narayana? Lying among flesh and filth and urine, I kept meditating on you, moment after moment. When I set out on the final journey, those who were near will not be seen. Earth takes a handful of earth. One goes alone, with the company of one's own stored deeds. Now, O God, do this much for me: let some service at your feet come to pass. Tuka pleads with Keshava: lead me through this trial of worldly life.
What it means
Tukaram measures a whole lifetime and finds it spent chasing pleasures, with not one moment given to liberation. He sees through the comforts of family: relatives are an arrangement that eases this life but knows nothing of where the soul comes from or where it goes. At death the picture is stark, the body is just earth folding back into earth, and the soul leaves alone carrying only its accumulated deeds. Against that solitude he recalls how even in the womb's misery he kept turning to God, and on that thread he hangs his single request. He does not ask for rescue from the world, only for enough grace to perform some service at God's feet while he is still passing through it.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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