Helplessness, refuge in mercy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय जाणें मी पामर पांडुरंगा तुझा पार । धरिलिया धीर काय एक न करिसी ॥1॥
उताविळ जालों आधीं मतिमंद हीनबुिद्ध । परि तूं कृपानिधी नाहीं केला अव्हेर ॥ध्रु.॥
तूं देवांचा ही देव अवघ्या ब्रह्मांडाचा जीव । आह्मां दासां कींव कां भाकणें लागली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे विश्वंभरा मी तों पतित चि खरा । अन्याय दुसरा दारीं धरणें बैसलों ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What do I, a wretch, know of Your depths, O Panduranga? When You hold firm, there is nothing You cannot accomplish. I was hasty before, dull-witted and base, yet You, O treasury of compassion, did not cast me aside. You are the God of gods, the life of the entire universe. Why must we, Your servants, have to plead for Your mercy? Says Tuka, O Sustainer of the World, I am truly a fallen one. My other offense is that I sat at Your door insisting.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What do I, a poor wretch, know of Your depths, O Panduranga? When You hold firm, there is nothing You cannot do. I was hasty at first, dull and low in mind. Yet You, treasury of mercy, did not throw me away. You are the God of gods. You are the life of the whole universe. Why must we, Your servants, have to beg for Your mercy? Tuka says: O Sustainer of the World, I am truly a fallen one. My second offense is this: I sat down at Your door and would not leave.
What it means
Tukaram admits he cannot fathom God and cannot manage his own life, and rests the whole outcome on God's power instead. He owns his haste and dullness, then turns it into wonder that such a Lord did not discard him. The pointed question in the middle is half complaint, half intimacy: if You are the life of all things, why should Your own servants have to plead? He ends by naming his stubbornness as a fault and a strategy at once: a fallen man who simply refuses to leave God's doorstep until mercy is given.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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