Devotion, sitting in protest at God's door
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आमचा तूं ॠणी ठायींचा चि देवा । मागावया ठेवा आलों दारा ॥1॥
वर्म तुझें आह्मां सांपडलें हातीं । धरियेले चित्तीं दृढ पाय ॥ध्रु.॥
बैसलों धरणें कोंडोनियां द्वारीं । आंतूनि बाहेरी येओं नेदी ॥2॥
तुज मज सरी होइल या विचारें । जळो भांडखोरें निलाजिरीं ॥3॥
भांडवल माझें मिरविसी जनीं । सहजर वोवनी नाममाळा ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी केली जिवें साटी । तुह्मां आह्मां तुटी घालूं आतां ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You have been our debtor from the very beginning, O God. I have come to Your door to claim my treasure. Your secret is now in our hands; we have firmly clasped Your feet in our chitta. I have sat in protest at Your door, blocking the way in and out. If You and I must be measured as equals in this contest, then let the shameless quarrel burn. You parade my investment before the world, weaving garlands of Your Name from it. Says Tuka, we have staked our lives; now let us settle accounts between us.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You have been our debtor from the very start, O God. I have come to your door to claim what is mine. Your secret is in our hands now; I have clasped your feet firmly in my heart. I have sat down in protest at your door, blocking the way in and out. If you and I are to be weighed as equals in this fight, then let the shameless quarrel burn. You parade my investment before the world, weaving garlands from your Name. Tuka says: we have staked our very lives; now let us settle the account between us.
What it means
Tukaram comes to God not as a beggar but as a creditor demanding what is owed from the beginning. He says he has found God's weak point and seized his feet, then stages a protest sit-in at the door so God can neither come nor go, the way a creditor once camped outside a debtor's house. He half-laughs at the unseemly quarrel between them, yet refuses to drop it. He even claims the devotion is his own investment that God displays to the world as garlands of the Name. The poem ends as a final reckoning: I have wagered my life, so now the accounts between us must be closed for good.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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