Autobiography, made hard by God's own doing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
निष्ठ मी जालों अतिवादागुणें । हें कां नारायणें नेणिजेल ॥1॥
सांडियेली तुह्मी गोत परिसोय । फोडविली डोय कर्मा हातीं ॥ध्रु.॥
सांपडूनि संदी केली जीवेंसाटीं । घ्यावयासि तुटी कारण हें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज काय ह्मणों उणें । नाहीं अभिमानें चाड देवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have become hard through excessive quarreling. Can this be unknown to You, O Narayana? You abandoned all arrangements for family and care, and handed my destiny over to the hands of karma. Seizing the opportunity, I staked my very life to bring about this final severance. Says Tuka, what fault can I ascribe to You? You have no concern for pride, O God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have become hard through too much quarreling. Can this be hidden from you, Narayana? You let go of all care for kin and keeping. You handed my fate into the hands of karma. You seized the chance and, for my soul's sake, brought about this final break. That breaking was the reason. Tuka says: what fault can I lay on you? You have no use for pride, God.
What it means
Tukaram looks at his own hardness, the contentious edge he has earned through endless quarreling, and says God knows it well. Then he reframes his ruin as God's deliberate work: God let his family ties and worldly security fall away and handed his destiny over to karma's bare workings. He reads even this loss as love, a cut made for the sake of his soul, the severance that was needed to free him. So he refuses to blame God; the final line dissolves the whole complaint into surrender, conceding that God has no interest in a man's pride and will strip it away.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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