Exhortation to wake, drop your cleverness
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आठवे देव तो करावा उपाव । येर तजीं वाव खटपटा ॥1॥
होई बा जागा होई वा जागा । वाउगा कां गा सिणसील ॥ध्रु.॥
जाणिवेच्या भारें भवाचिये डोहीं । बुडसी तों कांहीं निघेसि ना ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा पावसील भावें । जाणतां तें ठावें कांहीं नव्हे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If you remember God, seek that remedy. Abandon all other struggles; they are empty and useless. Wake up, please wake up! Why do you tire yourself in vain? Under the weight of your own cleverness, you sink in the deep pool of samsara and never rise again. Says Tuka, you will reach God through bhava. Knowing, on its own, takes you nowhere.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If you remember God, take up that remedy. Drop all the other struggles; they are empty and useless. Wake up, please wake up. Why do you wear yourself out for nothing? Under the weight of your own cleverness you sink in the deep pool of samsara and never rise. Tuka says: you will reach God through bhava. Knowing, by itself, takes you nowhere.
What it means
Tukaram calls a sleeper to wake before he drowns. The only remedy worth taking up is the remembrance of God; every other scheme and exertion is wasted effort. He names the precise thing that pulls a person under: not ignorance but cleverness, the weight of one's own learning, which sinks the soul in the deep pool of samsara. The closing line draws the sharp line he means: bhava, loving devotion, reaches God, while knowledge on its own carries one nowhere. The stake is plain and urgent, drowning or rising, and the choice is between trusting the mind and trusting the heart's love.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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