Autobiography, the irresistible pull
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आजिवरी तुम्हां आम्हां नेणपण । कौतुकें खेळणें संग होता ॥१॥
आतां अनावर जालें अगुणाची । करूं नये तें चि करीं सुखें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आतां बुडविलीं दोन्ही । कुळें एक मनीं नारायण ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Until today, between you and me, there was innocence. In wonder we played, while togetherness lasted. Now the pull of the Attributeless has become irresistible. What ought not be done, that very thing I do with joy. Tuka says: both lineages are drowned now. In single-pointed mind, only Narayana.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Until now there was an innocence between us; we played together in wonder while the closeness lasted. But now the pull of the Formless one has grown too strong to resist. The very thing I should not do, I now do gladly. Tuka says: both family lines are drowned now. In a single-pointed mind, there is only Narayana.
What it means
Tukaram marks a threshold. There was a sweet early stage, playful and innocent, but the pull of God, here the formless absolute, has grown past all restraint. He admits plainly that he now does, and gladly, what convention forbids. Both lineages drowned means he has let sink the honor of both families a person carries, his own and his spouse's. What is left is a mind fixed on one thing only. The scandal he names is the price of that single-mindedness.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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