Confession, ashamed of honor unearned
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संत मानितील मज । तेणें वाटतसे लाज ॥1॥
तुह्मी कृपा केली नाहीं । चित्त माझें मज ग्वाही ॥ध्रु.॥
गोविलों थोरिवां । दुःख वाटतसे जीवा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माया । अवरा हे पंढरिराया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When saints honor me, I feel ashamed. You have not truly bestowed Your grace upon me; my own chitta bears witness. I am troubled by this false greatness thrust upon me. Says Tuka, this is all illusion, O Lord of Pandhari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the saints honor me, I feel ashamed. You have not truly shown me Your grace; my own mind is my witness. I am caught in a false greatness, and it grieves my soul. Tuka says: take this illusion away, O Lord of Pandhari.
What it means
Tukaram is being publicly honored by holy people, and instead of pleasure he feels shame. He knows from the inside, his own mind is the only witness he needs, that he has not actually received the grace others credit him with. The honor sits on him as a borrowed greatness that does not belong to him, and that gap between his reputation and his reality is a real grief. He asks Panduranga not for more honor but to strip away the illusion, so that what people see matches what he is.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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