The faithful gatekeeper, claiming his wage
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जालों द्वारपाळ । तुझें राखिलें सकळ ॥1॥
नाहीं लागों दिलें अंगा । आड ठाकलों मी जगा ॥ध्रु.॥
करूनियां नीती। दिल्याप्रमाणें चालती ॥2॥
हातीं दंड काठी । भा जिवाचिये साटीं॥3॥
बळ बुद्धी युक्ती । तुज दिल्या सर्व शक्ती ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे खरा । आतां घेईन मुशारा ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have become Your gatekeeper, guarding all that is Yours. I have stood as a shield between You and the world, not letting anything touch You. I have established order, and all follow the given rule. In my hand I hold the staff and rod, staking my very life on this duty. All my strength, intellect, and skill, all my powers, I have given to You. Says Tuka, now I will collect my wages in full.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have become your gatekeeper. I have guarded all that is yours. I let nothing touch you. I stood as a shield between you and the world. I kept order; everyone follows the rule I lay down. In my hand I hold the staff and the rod, and I stake my very life on this watch. All my strength, my mind, my skill, every power I have, I have handed over to you. Tuka says: it is true, and now I will collect my wages in full.
What it means
Tukaram casts himself as a servant who has given everything to his master's house: his strength, his intellect, his every faculty, and even his life, standing armed at the gate to keep the world from troubling God. Having served so completely, he now comes to claim his wages, and the wage a devotee asks is God himself. The boldness is the same demanding love that runs through these poems: total self-surrender becomes the very ground on which he presses his claim. He is not bargaining for things; he has poured himself out and asks to be paid in the only coin that matters.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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