Confession, the gap between show and heart
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जन मानविलें वरी बाहएात्कारीं । तैसा मी अंतरीं नाहीं जालों ॥1॥
ह्मणउनी पंढरीनाथा वाटतसे चिंता । प्रगट बोलतां लाज वाटे ॥ध्रु.॥
संतां ब्रह्मरूप जालें अवघें जन । ते माझे अवगुण न देखती ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मी तों आपणांसी ठावा । आहें बरा देवा जैसा तैसा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have pleased the world through outward show, but inwardly I have not truly changed. Therefore, O Lord of Pandhari, I am filled with anxiety. I feel ashamed to speak of it openly. The saints see all persons as of the form of Brahman. They do not see my faults. Says Tuka, I am known to myself. I am before You, O God, exactly as I am.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have pleased the world by outward show. Inwardly I have not truly changed. So, Lord of Pandhari, I am full of worry. I am ashamed to say it out loud. The saints see all people as the form of Brahman. They do not see my faults. Tuka says: I am known to myself. Before You, O God, I am exactly as I am.
What it means
Tukaram confesses a split he cannot hide from himself. Outwardly he has won the world's approval, but his inner self has not changed to match, and this fills him with shame and anxiety before the Lord of Pandhari. He notes that the saints, seeing everyone as Brahman, look past his faults, so their kindness does not reach the problem. The reckoning he insists on is the one with himself and with God: he is fully known to himself, and he stands before God exactly as he is, with nothing covered. It is the prayer of someone who refuses to let a good reputation stand in for a changed heart.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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