The teacher's lament, few will receive
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बोलावे ह्मुण हे बोलतों उपाय । प्रवाहें हें जाय गंगाजळ ॥1॥
भाग्ययोगें कोणां घडेल सेवन । कैंचे येथें जन अधिकारी ॥ध्रु.॥
मुखीं देतां घांस पळवितीं तोंडें । अंगींचिया भांडे असुकानें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पूजा करितों देवाची । आपुलिया रुची मनाचिये ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I speak these remedies because they must be spoken; these waters flow onward like the Ganga. By good fortune, some may partake of them; who here in this world is truly qualified? When food is placed in their mouths, they turn their faces away, burning with their own willfulness. Says Tuka, I worship God according to the taste of my own mind.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I speak these remedies because they have to be spoken. They flow on like the water of the Ganga. By good fortune some few may take them. But who here is really fit to receive them? When I put the morsel in their mouths, they turn their faces away, burning with their own willfulness. Tuka says: I worship God as my own heart likes.
What it means
Tukaram is grieving over teaching that falls on people who will not take it. He speaks because the truth must be spoken; like the Ganga, it pours out whether or not anyone drinks. Only a rare, fortunate soul actually receives it, and he wonders aloud who is even fit. He compares teaching to feeding someone: he holds the food to their lips and they turn away, too full of their own stubborn will. In the end he stops measuring himself against them and simply worships God in the way his own heart loves.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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