Loss as gain, the holy thief
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझें घोंगडें पडिलें ठायीं । माग तया पायीं सांपडला ॥1॥
चोर तो भला चोर तो भला । पाठिसी घातला पुंडलिकें ॥ध्रु.॥
चोर कुठोरि एके चि ठायीं । वेगळें पाहावें नलगेच कांहीं ॥2॥
आणिकांचीं ही चोरलीं आधीं । माझें तयामधीं मेळविलें ॥3॥
आपल्या आपण शोधिलें तींहीं । करीन मी ही ते चि परी ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे माझें हित चि जालें । फाटकें जाउन धडकें चि आलें ॥5॥ ॥12॥
सर्प भुलोन गुंतला नादा । गारुडियें फांदां घातलासे।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My blanket has been found right where it was dropped. The trail leads straight to those feet. That thief is a fine one, a fine one indeed. Pundalik has held Him there from behind. The thief and his stolen goods are all in one place; there is no need to look anywhere else. He had stolen others' blankets before mine; mine was mingled in with the rest. They searched and found their own by their own effort. I too shall do the same. Says Tuka, my loss has been my gain. The tattered blanket went, and a whole one has come back.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My blanket lay right where it had dropped. The trail led straight to those feet. That thief is a fine one, a fine one indeed. Pundalik has held him there from behind. The thief and all he has stolen are in one place; there is no need to look anywhere else. He had stolen others' blankets before mine, and mine was mixed in with the rest. They searched and found their own by their own effort. I will do the same. Tuka says: my loss has become my gain. The tattered blanket went, and a whole one has come back.
What it means
Tukaram plays on the image of God as a thief who steals the self. He finds the trail of all he has lost leads straight to Vitthal's feet, and he is glad of it, because Pundalik has pinned the thief in place at Pandhari, where he cannot run. Since the thief and all his loot sit in one spot, the seeker need search nowhere else: he goes to those feet and reclaims himself, as others have done before him. The whole point lands in the last line: what looked like theft and loss is the best thing that could happen, because the worn-out self was taken and a whole one given back.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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