Metaphor, demanding an equal footing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं तुझे उगा पडत गळां । पुढें गोपाळा जाऊं नको ॥1॥
चाहाड तुझे दाविन घरीं । बोलण्या उरी नाहीं ऐसी ॥ध्रु.॥
तुह्मां आह्मां पडदा होता । सरला आतां सरोबरी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे उरती गोठी । पडिली मिठी न सुटे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I will not simply fall silent at Your feet, O Gopala. Do not walk ahead of me. I shall expose Your tricks at home, and no words will be left unsaid. The veil between You and me has fallen away. Now we stand on equal ground. Says Tuka, the account remains open. This embrace, once given, will not be released.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I will not just fall silent at Your feet, Gopala. Do not walk on ahead of me. I will expose Your tricks at home, and no word will be left unspoken. The veil between You and me has fallen. Now we stand on equal ground. Tuka says: the account is still open. This embrace, once given, will not let go.
What it means
Tukaram refuses the meek, distant posture of the ordinary worshipper. He will not simply bow and go quiet; he tells Gopala not to stride off ahead, and threatens to tell everyone at home of His cunning, holding nothing back. The veil that once kept God remote has dropped, so devotee and Lord now meet face to face as equals. This is the boldness of intimate bhakti, where love earns the right to argue and to demand. He ends holding fast: the reckoning between them is unfinished, and the embrace he has caught God in will never be released.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
More in this theme →