Saints as holy thieves, a warning in jest
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐकतों दाट । आले एकांचें बोभाट ॥1॥
नका विश्वासों यावरी । चोर देहाचे खाणोरी ॥ध्रु.॥
हे चि यांची जोडी। सदा बोडकीं उघडीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे न्यावें । ज्याचे त्यासी नाहीं ठावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I hear the uproar of certain people growing louder. Do not trust them any further; they are robbers of the body's comforts. This alone is their treasure: they are always stripped bare and exposed. Says Tuka, they take from you what is yours, and you do not even know it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
These Vaishnava thieves have crept into the house of this poor wretch. Guard your things today: your pots, your covers, all of it. In whoever's house they eat, they carry off everything that person owns. Tuka says: they leave no trace of attachment behind.
What it means
Tukaram plays with the language of theft to praise the saints, calling the Vaishnavas thieves who break into the heart and steal it clean. The mock warning to guard your pots and covers turns serious at once: what they actually carry away is not property but your hold on it. Wherever they are welcomed and fed, they take everything, meaning they strip a person of the sense of mine. The closing line gives the secret away: what they leave behind is no trace of attachment, which is the very thing that frees you.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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