Confession, gilding over brass
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बेगडाचा रंग राहे कोण काळ । अंगें हें पितळ न देखतां ॥1॥
माझें चित्त मज जवळीच गो ही । तुझी मज नाहीं भेटी ऐसें ॥ध्रु.॥
दासीसुतां नाहीं पितियाचा ठाव । अवघें चि वाव सोंग त्याचें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझी केली विटंबना । अनुभवें जना येईल कळों ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How long can the color of gilding last when the brass underneath goes unseen? My own mind is right here beside me, yet I have no true meeting with You. The son of a maidservant has no claim on his father; all his gestures are hollow pretense. Says Tuka, I have been humiliated, and the world will come to know it through experience.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How long can gilding hold its color when the brass underneath is never seen? My mind is right here beside me, yet I have no real meeting with You. A maidservant's son has no claim on his father; every gesture of his is hollow pretense. Tuka says: I have been put to shame, and the world will learn it by experience.
What it means
Tukaram exposes himself as plating over base metal. Gold leaf laid over brass keeps its shine only until the cheap metal beneath shows through; he fears his devotion is exactly that thin a coating. His mind is close at hand, but it gives him no true meeting with God, and so his every devout gesture feels as baseless as a servant's son claiming a father who never acknowledged him. The harsh comparison is aimed at himself, not at any real child or servant: it names the shame of a claim with nothing behind it. He warns that pretense like this cannot stay hidden; sooner or later, lived experience exposes it to everyone.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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