Devotion, the holy quarrel
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाणोनि अंतर । टािळसील करकर ॥1॥
तुज लागली हे खोडी । पांडुरंगा बहु कुडी ॥ध्रु.॥
उठविसी दारीं । धरणें एखादिया परी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पाये । कैसे सोडीन ते पाहें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Knowing my mind, You dodge the confrontation. This is Your bad habit, O Panduranga, a deeply dishonest one. You rouse me at the door like one staging a protest. Says Tuka, watch how I refuse to let go of Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You know what is in my heart, so you slip away from the argument. This is your bad habit, Panduranga, a deeply dishonest one. You rouse me at your door as though you were the one staging a sit-in protest. Tuka says: watch, then, how I will let go of your feet.
What it means
Tukaram speaks to God the way you speak to someone you love and will not be put off by. He accuses God of a cunning evasion: knowing exactly what the devotee wants, God ducks the confrontation rather than grant it. The image of being roused at the door belongs to the old custom of a creditor or petitioner who sits at someone's threshold and refuses to leave until the demand is met. Tukaram turns the tables with a defiant promise that is really a vow of refusal: just watch how thoroughly he will not loosen his grip on God's feet.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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