Worldly life, hoarding and waking
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लटिकियाच्या आशा । होतों पडिलों वळसा । होउनियां दोषा । पात्र मिथ्या अभिमानें ॥1॥
बरवी उघडली दृष्टी । नाहीं तरी होतों कष्टी । आक्रंदते सृष्टी । मात्र या चेष्टांनीं ॥ध्रु.॥
मरणाची नाहीं शुद्धी । लोभीं प्रवर्तली बुद्धी । परती तों कधीं । घडे चि ना माघारीं ॥2॥
सांचूनि मरे धन । लावी पोरांसी भांडण । नाहीं नारायण । तुका ह्मणे स्मरीला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I had been caught in the snare of false hopes. Through worthless pride I had become a vessel for blame. But now my vision has cleared; otherwise I was in misery. The whole creation groans under such follies. There was no awareness of death; the mind was driven by greed. It never turns back, never retreats. One hoards wealth and then dies, leaving only quarrels among the children. Says Tuka, Narayana was never once remembered.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I had been caught in false hopes, fallen into the whirlpool. Through empty pride I had made myself fit for blame. Now my sight has opened well; otherwise I was in misery. The whole world cries out under just these follies. There was no awareness of death; the mind ran after greed and never once turned back. A man hoards wealth and then dies, leaving only quarrels among his children. Tuka says: Narayana was never once remembered.
What it means
Tukaram looks back on his own near miss with the trap most people never escape. He had been spun in the whirlpool of false hope and hollow pride until something opened his eyes; he says plainly that without that he would still be wretched, and that the whole world groans under the same follies. The core blindness he names is forgetting death while greed drives the mind forward with no turning back. The bitter end of that life is a man who dies clutching his hoard, leaving his children only something to fight over, having never once remembered God. The poem points the listener at his own forgetfulness, asking whether his days are spent storing wealth or remembering Narayana.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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