Humility, the seal not the paper
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जन पूजी याचा मज कां आभार । हा तुह्मी विचार जाणां देवा ॥1॥
पत्र कोण मानी वंदितील सिक्का । गौरव सेवका त्या चि मुळें ॥ध्रु.॥
मी मीपणें होतों जनामधीं आधीं । कोणें दिलें कधीं काय तेव्हां ॥2॥
आतां तूं भोगिता सर्व नारायणा । नको आह्मां दीनां पीडा करूं ॥3॥
आपुलिया हातें देसील मुशारा । तुका ह्मणे खरा तो चि आह्मां ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
People honor me, but why should I bear the credit? You know this well, O God. No one respects the letter itself; they honor the seal upon it. The servant is revered only because of the master. Before, when I was just myself among people, nobody gave me anything. Now You are the one enjoying everything, O Narayana; do not torment us poor ones. Says Tuka, only what You give with Your own hand is real wages for us.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
People honor me. Why should I take the credit for it? You know how this works, God. No one respects the paper; they bow to the seal stamped on it. The servant is honored only because of the master. Before, when I was just myself among people, who ever gave me anything, and what? Now You are the one who enjoys it all, Narayana. Do not torment us poor ones. Tuka says: only what You give with Your own hand is real wages for us.
What it means
Tukaram refuses the praise that has gathered around him and hands it straight back to God. He uses a plain image from daily life: a document is honored only for the official seal pressed on it, not for the blank paper, and a servant is respected only because of his master. The proof is his own past, when he was nobody and received nothing; the change came from God, not from himself. So he asks God to take the honor and the enjoyment as His own and to stop tormenting the poor with empty acclaim. What he wants is not reputation but real provision, the wages God places directly in his hand.
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