Confession, the thief asking for wages
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लाज वाटे पुढें तोंड दाखवितां । परि जाऊं आतां कोणापाशी ॥1॥
चुकलिया काम मागतों मुशारा । लाज फजितखोरा नाहीं मज ॥ध्रु.॥
पाय सांडूनिया फिरतों बासर । स्वामिसेवे चोर होऊनियां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मज पाहिजे दंडिलें । पुढें हे घडलें न पाहिजे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am ashamed to show my face, yet where else shall I go? Having failed in my duty, I ask for wages; I, the shameless wretch, feel no embarrassment. Abandoning Your feet, I wander aimlessly, a thief to my master's service. Says Tuka, I deserve to be punished; let this not happen again.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am ashamed to show my face, yet where else can I go now? I failed at the work and still demand my wages; shameless wretch, I feel no shame. Leaving your feet, I wander idle, a thief in my master's service. Tuka says: I deserve to be punished; only let this not happen again.
What it means
Tukaram stands before God like a servant who has both shirked the work and stolen, and he names it without softening. He failed his duty yet still wants payment, and worse, the shame that should stop him does not even register; abandoning God's feet, he wanders as a thief inside his own master's house. There is nowhere else to take this confession, which is exactly why he brings it here. He does not plead innocence; he accepts the punishment and asks only that the lapse not be repeated.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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