Metaphor, pressing the claim on God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
घोंगडियांची एकी राशी । त्याचपाशीं तें ही होतें ॥1॥
माझियाचा माग दावा । केला गोवा उगवों द्या ॥ध्रु.॥
व्हावें ऐसें निसंतान । घेइन आन तुजपाशीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे लाहाण मोठा । सांड ताठा हा देवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
All the blankets were piled in one heap, and His was among them too. I press my own claim; let this tangle be sorted out. May I be left without children, so solemn is this oath I shall swear before You. Says Tuka, whether great or small, put aside Your stubbornness, O God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
All the blankets were piled in one heap, and His was among them too. I press my own claim; let this tangle be sorted out. Let me be left without children: that is how solemnly I will swear it before You. Tuka says: great or small, put aside this stubbornness, O God.
What it means
Tukaram keeps pressing his suit with Krishna over the lost blanket. Now all the blankets, the Lord's own among them, lie in a single heap, the two parties mingled past telling apart. He insists his claim be heard and the knot untangled, and he backs it with the gravest oath a householder can take, to be left childless if he speaks falsely. Beneath the playful quarrel is a devotee who will not let go of God until the matter between them is settled. He ends by chiding the Lord directly: drop the stubbornness, whether the stake is great or small, and deal with me.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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