Worldly life, surrender to destiny
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय करावें म्यां केले ते विचार । घडेल साचार काय पाहों ॥1॥
काय मन नाहीं धरीत आवडी । प्रारब्धीं जोडी ते चि खरी ॥ध्रु.॥
काय म्यां तेथींचें रांधिलें चाखोनि । तें हें करीं मनीं विवंचना ॥2॥
आणीक ही त्यासी बहुत कारण । बहु असे जिणें ओढीचें ही ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मां बोळविल्यावरी । परती माघारी केली नाहीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What plans I made, let me now see what truly comes to pass. Does the mind not hold its own desire? Only what destiny provides is certain. Have I cooked and tasted anything from that place? This is what I weigh in my mind. He too has many concerns, and much of life is a matter of strain. Says Tuka, since we were sent away, we have never been called back.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Whatever plans I made, let me now see what really comes to pass. Does the mind not hold its own desire? Only what destiny gives is sure. Have I cooked and tasted anything from that place? This is what I turn over in my mind. He too has many concerns, and much of life is a matter of strain. Tuka says: since we were sent away, we have never been called back.
What it means
After the high union, Tukaram comes back down into the plain weariness of waiting in the world. He sets his own plans aside: the mind may keep its wishes, but only what destiny grants is certain, so he will watch and see. He questions himself honestly, asking whether he has any real claim on that home, since he has tasted nothing of it himself. He even allows that the Lord has His own many concerns and that life is mostly strain. The poem ends on a bare, aching fact: since being sent out into the world, he has never been called back. He states the grief without softening it and without losing the trust the sequence has built.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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