Exhortation, the rare human birth wasted
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विषयओढीं भुलले जीव । आतां यांची कोण करील कींव । नुपजे नारायणीं भाव । पावोनि ठाव नरदेह ॥1॥
कोण सुख धरोनि संसारीं । पडोनि काळाचे आहारीं । माप या लागलें शरीरीं । जालियावरी सळे ओढिती ॥ध्रु.॥
बापुडीं होतील सेवटीं । आयुष्यासवें जालिया तुटी । भोगिले मागें पुढे ही कोटी । होईल भेटी जन्मासी ॥2॥
जंतिली घाणां बांधोनि डोळे । मागें जोडी आर तेणेंही पोळे । चालिलों किती तें न कळे । दुःखें हारंबळे भूकतान ॥3॥
एवढें जयाचें निमित्त । प्रारब्ध क्रियमाण संचित । तें हें देह मानुनि अनित्य। न करिती नित्य नामस्मरण ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे न वेंचतां मोल । तो हा यासि महाग विठ्ठल । वेंचितां फुकाचे चि बोल। केवढें खोल अभागिया ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Souls deluded by the pull of sense-pleasures, who will now show them compassion? They do not develop devotion to Narayana even after attaining a human body. What happiness is there in clinging to worldly life while falling prey to Death? The body is already measured; once branded, they are dragged away. The wretched will suffer at the end when their lifespan is cut short. What was enjoyed before will return; they will meet birth again, millions of times over. Like oxen yoked to the oil-press, blindfolded, goaded from behind, they walk on not knowing how far, tormented by the ache of hunger and thirst. The body for whose sake all this is done, shaped by fate and destiny, they regard as permanent, yet they never chant the eternal Name. Says Tuka, Vitthal costs nothing at all, yet to these unfortunate ones He seems too expensive. They spend only cheap words. How deep is their misfortune.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Souls deluded by the pull of sense-objects, who will now pity them? Devotion to Narayana does not arise in them, even after they have won the place of a human body. What happiness is there in holding to worldly life and falling into the food of Death? The measure has already been set on this body. Once it is marked out, they are dragged off. The wretched will suffer in the end, when the cut comes with the end of life. What was enjoyed before will return; there will be a meeting with birth again, millions of times. Like an ox yoked to the oil-press with its eyes tied shut, goaded from behind so it burns, it walks on, not knowing how far it has gone, broken with the ache of hunger and thirst. The body, for whose sake all this is done, shaped by fate and act and the deeds stored up, they take it to be lasting, and they do not do the daily remembrance of the Name. Tuka says: Vitthal costs nothing to gain, yet to these people he is too dear a price. To spend mere free words, how deep is the misfortune of these unlucky ones.
What it means
Tukaram aims this at the waste of a human birth, the one chance, he holds, to win devotion, squandered by souls dragged along by the senses. He warns that clinging to worldly pleasure simply feeds the body to Death, whose measure is already taken, and that the cycle of enjoying and being reborn will repeat by the millions. His central image is the blindfolded ox on the oil-press, goaded in circles, walking endlessly without knowing it has gone nowhere, the picture of a life of effort that never arrives. The bitter twist is the price: Vitthal can be had for nothing, costing only the free breath of saying the Name, yet these people find even that too expensive to spend. The reproach is meant to wake the listener, not to write anyone off; the depth of the misfortune is that the cure is free and still refused.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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