Worldly life, the crevice
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव्हे आराणूक संवसारा हातीं । सर्वकाळ चित्तीं हा चि धंदा ॥१॥
देवधर्म सांदीं पडिला सकळ । विषयीं गोंधळ गाजतसे ॥ध्रु. ॥
रात्रि दीस न पुरे कुटुंबाचें समाधान । दुर्लभ दर्शन ईश्वराचें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आत्महत्या रे घातकी । थोर होते चुकी नारायणीं ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
There is no ease once fallen into the crevice of worldly life; the chitta churns with this one hustle at all hours. Devotion and righteousness have fallen into a crack while the uproar of sense-objects thunders on. Day and night are not enough for the family; the darshan of God becomes rare. Tuka says: O killers of the Self, you commit a great error regarding Narayana.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Once you have slipped into the crevice of worldly life, there is no rest; the mind churns all day long with this one hustle. Devotion and right living get shoved into a corner while the racket of the senses thunders on. Day and night are never enough to satisfy the family, and the sight of God grows rare. Tuka says: this is to murder your own self, and it is a grave wrong against Narayana.
What it means
Tukaram describes the trap of a life swallowed by getting and spending. Once in it, the mind never rests; the endless business of provision drowns out devotion, and however hard one works the family's wants are never filled, while time for God simply runs out. His sharp last line is not against family or work as such, but against letting them consume the whole of a life: to live with no room left for God is, he says, a slow kind of self-murder, and a wrong done to the God within. The warning is meant to wake, not to condemn.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
More in this theme →