Devotion, settling the account with God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मी जालों एकविध । सुद्या सुदें असावें ॥1॥
यावरी तुमचा मोळा । तो गोपाळा अकळ ॥ध्रु.॥
घेतलें तें उसणें द्यावें । कांहीं भावें विशेषें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे क्रियानष्ट । तरी कष्ट घेतसां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We have become single-minded in our intent; let accounts be settled squarely. Beyond that, Your ways, O Gopala, are unfathomable. What is borrowed must be repaid, and with some added devotion. Says Tuka, if You default on Your word, then You are the one who suffers the loss.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We have become single-minded toward you. Let what is plain be kept plain; let the account be settled straight. Beyond that, your ways, Gopala, no one can fathom. What was borrowed must be paid back, and with some added love. Tuka says: if you break your word, then it is you who bears the loss.
What it means
Tukaram presses his claim on God in the bold language of a debt to be settled. Having given God his whole single-minded heart, he asks for a straight reckoning, even while admitting that God's deeper ways are beyond anyone's grasp. The devotee's logic is that of a loan: what God has taken in love must be returned, and returned with interest of love. The closing line keeps the daring edge intact: if God should default on the bargain, the loss falls on God, for a Lord who fails his devotee damages his own name.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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