Saints, gratitude for grace
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
श्रीसंतांचिया माथा चरणांवरी । साष्टांग हें करीं दंडवत ॥1॥
विश्रांती पावलों सांभाळउत्तरीं । वाढलें अंतरीं प्रेमसुखें॥ध्रु.॥
डौरली हे काया कृपेच्या वोरसें । नव्हे अनारिसें उद्धरलों ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मज न घडतां सेवा । पूर्वपुण्यठेवा वोडवला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I bow my head prostrate at the feet of the blessed saints. I have found rest through their reassuring words, and love and joy have grown within. This body has blossomed under the rain of their grace; I have been uplifted, transformed beyond recognition. Says Tuka, though I could not serve them properly, the treasure of past merit has come to my aid.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I lay my head on the feet of the blessed saints. I bow flat on the ground before them. Their steadying words have given me rest. Love and joy have grown inside me. This body has bloomed in the downpour of their grace. I am not what I was; I have been lifted up. Tuka says: though I never served them as I should, the store of merit from before has come to my aid.
What it means
Tukaram is thanking the saints and crediting them, not himself, for his change. He prostrates fully before them and says it was their reassuring words that gave him rest and made love and joy grow within him. The image of the body blooming under rain says the transformation came from their grace falling on him, not from his own effort. He admits he never managed to serve them properly, so he assigns even his good fortune to merit stored up from an earlier time. The whole poem keeps the credit outside the self.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
More in this theme →