Confession, the outer dress and the bare inside
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुज पाहावें हे धरितों वासना । परि आचरणा नाहीं ठाव ॥1॥
करिसी कैवार आपुलिया सत्ता । तरि च देखता होइन पाय ॥ध्रु.॥
बाहिरल्या वेषें उत्तम दंडलें । भीतरी मुंडलें नाहीं तैसें॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वांयां गेलों च मी आहे । जरि तुह्मी साहे न व्हा देवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I hold the desire to behold You, but my conduct falls short of deserving it. If You take up my cause by Your own authority, only then shall I become one who truly sees Your feet. The outer dress has been properly adorned, but the interior has not been stripped bare in the same way. Says Tuka, I am already lost unless You come to my aid, O God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I hold the longing to see You. But my conduct gives me no place to stand. If You take up my cause by Your own power, only then will I come to see Your feet. I have dressed the outside up well. The inside has not been stripped bare in the same way. Tuka says: I am already lost, O God, unless You stand by me.
What it means
Tukaram confesses that his wish to see God is real but his life does not earn it, so he throws the whole matter onto grace. He admits a gap between outside and inside: the outer dress is well arranged, the religious appearance is in order, but inwardly he has not been laid bare and emptied in the same way. Because his conduct gives him no ground to stand on, the only path left is for God to take up his cause by sheer divine power, not by Tukaram's merit. He ends by naming the stake plainly: without God's support he is already a lost man.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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