Gratitude, the cost God bore
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव्हती आली सीसा सुरी अथवा घाय पाठीवरी । तो म्यां केला हरी एवढा तुह्मां आकांत ॥1॥
वांटिलासी दोहीं ठायीं मजपाशीं आणि डोहीं । लागों दिला नाहीं येथें तेथें आघात ॥ध्रु.॥
जीव घेती मायबापें थोडएा अन्याच्या कोपें । हें तों नव्हे सोपें साहों तों चि जाणीतलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कृपावंता तुज ऐसा नाहीं दाता। काय वाणूं आतां वाणी माझी कुंटली ॥3॥
वर्षाव केला
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
No blade came to my throat, nor blows upon my back, yet I caused You, O Hari, this much anguish. You divided Your care between two places, my person and the river, letting no harm befall either here or there. Parents may take a child's life in a brief fit of anger; this is not easy to endure, and I knew it even as I bore it. Says Tuka, O gracious One, there is no giver like You. What more can I say? My tongue has grown silent.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
No knife came to my throat. No blows fell on my back. Yet I caused You, Hari, this much anguish. You split Yourself between two places, beside me and in the river, and let no harm reach either, here or there. Parents will take a child's life in a small fit of anger. That is not easy to bear, and I knew it even while I bore it. Tuka says: O gracious One, there is no giver like You. What can I say now? My tongue has gone silent.
What it means
Tukaram reckons up what God suffered on his behalf and finds his own pain was nothing by comparison. No blade touched him; the anguish was God's, who divided attention between the poet and the river to keep both safe. He contrasts this with how a human parent can strike a child to death in a brief rage: ordinary love is not this patient. Set against a giver who absorbs the cost without anger, Tukaram has nothing left to offer but a silenced, grateful tongue.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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