Confession, the unlearned devotee
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय जाणों वेद । आह्मी आगमाचे भेद ॥1॥
एक रूप तुझें मनीं । धरूनि राहिलों चिंतनी ॥ध्रु.॥
कोठें अधिकार । नाहीं रानट विचार ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे दीना । नुपेक्षावें नारायणा॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What do I know of the Vedas? I am ignorant of scriptural subtleties. I simply hold Your one form in my mind and remain absorbed in contemplation. I have no authority or standing; I am a simple rustic with no sophistication. Says Tuka, O Narayana, do not neglect the poor.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What do I know of the Vedas? I do not know the secrets of the scriptures. I have held one form of Yours in my mind and stayed there, dwelling on it. I have no authority, no standing; my thinking is rough and untaught. Tuka says: O Narayana, do not overlook this poor one.
What it means
Tukaram offers his lack of learning openly rather than hiding it. He cannot read the Vedas or untie the knots of scripture, and he does not pretend otherwise. In place of all that, he has one thing: a single form of God held steadily in the mind. He admits he has no authorized standing and calls his own understanding rustic and rough. The plea he lands on turns weakness into a claim: precisely because he is poor and unlettered, with nothing but love for one form, he asks Narayana not to pass him by. The Name and the held image are offered as enough where learning is absent.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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