Surrender, stripped bare and caught
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नागवूनि एकें नागवीं च केली । फिरोनियां आलीं नाहीं येथें ॥1॥
भेणें सुती कोणी न घेती पालवीं । करूनियां गोवी निसंतान ॥ध्रु.॥
एकें तीं गोविलीं घेऊनि जमान । हांसतील जन लोक तयां ॥2॥
सरले तयांसी घाली वैकुंठीं । न सोडी हे साटी जीवें जाली ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे जालों जाणोनि नेणती । सांपडलों हातीं याचे आह्मी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Having been stripped bare by one, I was left with nothing; no one returns to this place after that. Out of fear, no one takes me under their wing; He has made me destitute and childless. Some He trapped by taking surety from them; the world laughs at those jivas. Those who surrendered, He sent to Vaikuntha; this bond was sealed with their very lives. Says Tuka, we pretended not to know, yet we fell into His hands all the same.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Stripped bare by one, I was left with nothing; no one comes back to this place once that is done. Out of fear no one takes me under their wing; he has made me destitute and childless. Some he trapped by taking a surety from them, and the world laughs at those souls. Those who gave themselves up he sent to Vaikuntha; this bond was sealed with their very lives. Tuka says: we played at not knowing, yet we fell into his hands all the same.
What it means
Tukaram describes being ruined by God in the language of a man cleaned out of all he owned, and the ruin is the grace. Once God strips a soul bare of every worldly hold, it cannot go back, and the world keeps its distance from such a one, afraid to be drawn in. The wordplay turns dark and then bright: those caught and made to surrender are first laughed at, then sent to Vaikuntha, the bond paid for with their lives. The last line is the confession: he pretended not to understand what was happening, but the pretense changed nothing, and he was taken anyway. Being caught by God is named here as the best thing that can happen to a soul.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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