Worldly life, the harvest of past deeds
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दुःखाचे डोंगर लागती सोसावे । ऐसें तंव ठावें सकळांसीं ॥1॥
भोग कळों येतो मागिल ते जन्म । उत्तम मध्यम कनिष्ठ ते ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येथें झांकितील डोळे । भोग देतेवेळे येइल कळों ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Mountains of suffering must be endured; this much is known to everyone. The quality of past lives can be inferred from the kind of experience one receives: superior, middling, or inferior. Says Tuka, those who close their eyes here will come to know it when the time of bearing one's fruits arrives.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Mountains of suffering must be borne; everyone knows this much. From the kind of lot you receive you can read your past births: superior, middling, or low. Tuka says: those who shut their eyes here will come to know it when the time comes to bear the fruit.
What it means
Tukaram states plainly what no one really doubts: heavy suffering must be endured, and no one is spared. He reads present experience as a ledger of the past; the quality of the life you are handed, high, middling, or low, reflects deeds already done. The warning is in the last line: closing your eyes to this now does not make it go away. When the appointed time of reaping arrives, the truth you refused to see will make itself known. So the call is to look honestly now, rather than be forced to learn it later.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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