Autobiography, it was good I was ruined
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बरें जालें देवा निघालें दिवाळें । बरी या दुष्काळें पीडा केली ॥1॥
अनुतापें तुझें राहिलें चिंतन । जाला हा वमन संवसार ॥ध्रु.॥
बरें जालें जगीं पावलों अपमान । बरें गेलें धन ढोरें गुरें ॥3॥
बरें जालें नाहीं धरिली लोकलाज । बरा आलों तुज शरण देवा ॥4॥
बरें जालें तुझें केलें देवाईल । लेंकरें बाईल उपेिक्षलीं ॥5॥
तुका ह्मणे बरें व्रत एकादशी । केलें उपवासीं जागरण ॥6॥ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It was good, O God, that I went bankrupt. It was good that the famine afflicted me. Through remorse, your remembrance took root, and worldly life became repulsive. It was good that I was humiliated before the world. It was good that wealth and cattle were lost. It was good that I abandoned all concern for public opinion. It was good that I came to you, O God, in surrender. It was good that I devoted myself to your service and let go of wife and children. Says Tuka, it was good that I kept the Ekadashi vow, fasting and staying awake through the night.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It was good, O God, that I went bankrupt. It was good that the famine afflicted me. Through that remorse, the remembrance of you took root, and worldly life became something to spit out. It was good that I was shamed before the world. It was good that wealth and cattle were lost. It was good that I let go of all concern for what people think. It was good that I came to you in surrender, O God. It was good that I gave myself to your service and let go of wife and children. Tuka says: it was good I kept the Ekadashi vow, fasting and staying awake through the night.
What it means
Tukaram turns every disaster of his life into a thanksgiving. Bankruptcy, famine, public shame, the loss of wealth and cattle, even the letting go of wife and children, he names each one and calls it good. The hinge is the second line: the remorse those losses caused was exactly what made him remember God and grow sick of the world. He is not minimizing the pain; he is saying that ruin emptied his hands so completely that surrender became possible, and so the fasting and night vigil of Ekadashi are the last good thing on a list that began with catastrophe.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
More in this theme →