Exhortation, the shameless traveler
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जातो न येतिया वाटा । काय निरवितो करंटा ॥1॥
कैसा जालासे बेश्रम । लाज नाहीं न ह्मणे राम ॥ध्रु.॥
पाहे वैरियाकडे। डोळे वासुनियां रडे ॥2॥
बांधुनियां यमा हातीं । दिला नाहीं त्याची खंती ॥3॥
नाहीं यांपें काम । ऐसें जाणे तो अधम ॥4॥
अझुन तरि मुका । कां रे जालासि ह्मणे तुका ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He walks the road of no return, yet what provisions does this pitiable one carry? How shameless he has become; he does not even utter the name of Rama. He gazes toward his enemies and weeps with eyes wide open. He has been handed over, bound, into the hands of Yama, yet has no concern for that. He who considers these things beneath him is the most degraded of all. Says Tuka, even now, why have you become mute?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He walks the road from which no one returns. What does this wretched one carry for the way? How shameless he has become; he feels no shame, and he will not say the name of Rama. He looks toward his enemies and weeps with his eyes wide open. He has been bound and handed over to Yama, and even that does not trouble him. The man who thinks these things are beneath him is the lowest of all. Tuka says: even now, why have you gone dumb?
What it means
Tukaram is shaking awake a person heading toward death with nothing laid up for the journey. The one provision that matters is the name of Rama, and the shameless man will not even speak it. Instead he clings to the very things that betray him, weeping over enemies while death already holds him bound, untroubled by his own ruin. To scorn the Name as beneath you, Tuka says, is to be the most degraded of all. His closing question is aimed at the listener: your mouth still works, so why has it gone silent on the one word that could save you?
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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