Exhortation, seize the chance now
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐसे पुढती मिळतां आतां । नाहीं सत्ता स्वतंत्र ॥1॥
म्हणउनि फावलें तें घ्यावें । नाम गावें आवडी ॥ध्रु.॥
संचित प्रारब्ध गाढें । धांवे पुढें क्रियमाण ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे घुबडा ऐसें । जन्म सरिसे शुकराचें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if such an opportunity comes again hereafter, there will be no independent agency. Therefore seize what is available now and sing the Name with love. Sanchita and Prarabdha are powerful; Kriyaman races on ahead. Says Tuka, otherwise life passes birth after birth like the owl's or the pig's.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even if such a chance comes again later, you will have no free power to use it. So take what is given now and sing the Name with love. Sanchita and Prarabdha are heavy; Kriyaman runs on ahead. Tuka says: otherwise life passes, birth after birth, like the owl's or the pig's.
What it means
Tukaram presses the rarity of a human chance to turn toward God. Another such opening may come, but you may have no freedom then to act on it, so the time to seize it is now, by singing the Name with love. He names the weight of karma: the store of past deeds and the destiny already ripening are heavy, and fresh action keeps racing ahead, piling up more. The bare alternative is the last line: miss this, and you drift through birth after birth as dull and aimless as an owl or a pig. The whole force of it is, do not let this one usable life slip.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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