Devotion, end this quarrel before the saints
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं देणें घेणे । गोवी केली अभिमानें ॥1॥
आतां कां हो निवडूं नेदां । पांडुरंगा येवढा धंदा ॥ध्रु.॥
पांचांमधीं जावें । थोडएासाटीं फजित व्हावें ॥2॥
तुज ऐसी नाहीं । पांडुरंगा आह्मी कांहीं ॥3॥
टाकुं तो वेव्हार । तुज बहू करकर ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां । निवडूं संतां हें देखतां ॥5॥ ॥9॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
There is no real debt between us; You created this entanglement out of pride. Now why will You not let me settle and separate, O Panduranga? Must I be shamed before the assembly for a trivial matter? I am not like You, O Panduranga, not in any way. Let us end this commerce; the constant friction is too much for You. Says Tuka, now let us settle this before the saints as witnesses.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
There is no real debt between us; You tangled it up out of pride. Now why will You not let me settle and be free, O Panduranga? This is too big a business. Must I be shamed before the gathering over a small thing? I am not like You, Panduranga, not in any way. Let us drop this trade; the constant friction is too much even for You. Tuka says: now let us settle it before the saints, in their sight.
What it means
Tukaram treats his relation to God as a tangled account and asks that it finally be cleared. He says there was never any genuine debt; God knotted it up out of His own pride, and now will not let him reach a settlement. He resents being made to look small before others over what should be a minor matter, and freely admits he is in no way God's equal. Worn down by the endless back and forth, he proposes ending the whole transaction and bringing it before the saints as witnesses, so that the dispute between devotee and Lord is resolved openly in holy company.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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