Autobiography, harassed for nothing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव जातां घरा । आह्मी कोणाच्या दातारा ॥1॥
कां हे छळूं येती लोक । दाट बळें चि कंटक ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं आह्मी खात। कांहीं कोणाचें लागत ॥2॥
कळे तैसी सेवा । तुका ह्मणे करूं देवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We do not go to anyone's door, O Generous Lord. Then why do these thorny people come to harass us? We do not eat or touch anything that belongs to anyone. Says Tuka, we serve God as best we understand.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We go to no one's door, O Generous Lord. So why do these people come to torment us, thorns pressing in with all their force? We eat nothing of anyone's; we take nothing that is theirs. Tuka says: we serve God as well as we know how.
What it means
Tukaram lays a complaint directly before God and states the injustice plainly. He keeps to himself, begging at no one's door and living off no one's food or goods, yet people crowd in like thorns to harass him. The poem names the puzzle without softening it: he has given them no cause. His only doing is to serve God as best he understands. By saying this to the Generous Lord rather than striking back at his tormentors, he turns persecution into a matter laid before God, trusting that the one who sees his harmlessness is the one to answer it.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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