Metaphor, no God for the half-hearted
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
करी संध्यास्नान । वारी खाउनियां अन्न ॥1॥
तया नाहीं लाभहानी । आदा वेंचाचिये मानीं ॥ध्रु.॥
मजुराचें धन । विळा दोर चि जतन ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं । अधीरासी देव कांहीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He performs his daily rituals and prayers after filling his belly with food. For him there is neither gain nor loss; he keeps a balance of income and expense. A laborer's wealth consists of his tools: his spade and his rope. Says Tuka, God does not belong to the impatient.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He does his evening rites and his bathing, but only after he has eaten his fill. For such a man there is no real gain or loss; he just keeps his accounts of income and spending balanced. A laborer's whole wealth is his tools, his spade and his rope. Tuka says: God is not for the impatient.
What it means
Tukaram is satirizing worship done as routine bookkeeping rather than longing. The man performs his prayers and ablutions, but only after his belly is full, so God comes after appetite and ritual is just one more entry in a ledger that always balances out to nothing. The laborer image sharpens it: a hired worker guards only his spade and rope, the bare means of his wage, because his interest stops at the day's pay. The closing line names the stake: God does not yield to the impatient, the ones who will not wait, will not put Him first, will not let devotion cost them. The challenge to the listener is whether worship is a heartfelt seeking or merely a transaction kept in balance.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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