Autobiography, the fear that was nothing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नसता चि दाउनि भेव । केला जीव हिंपुटी ॥1॥
जालों तेव्हां कळलें जना । वाउगा हा आकांत ॥ध्रु.॥
गंवसिलों पुढें मागें लागलागे पावला ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे केली आणि । सलगीच्यांनी सन्मुख ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
By showing a fear that did not exist, my life was made wretched. When the truth was revealed, people saw the alarm had been for nothing. I was caught between ahead and behind, chased until the pursuer was reached. Says Tuka, those who were close and familiar brought me face to face with the Lord.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I was shown a fear that was not even real. It made my life wretched. When I came through it, people understood: the alarm had been for nothing. I was caught between what lay ahead and what lay behind. They chased me until the one who pursued me was reached at last. Tuka says: those who were close and dear to me brought me face to face with the Lord.
What it means
Tukaram looks back on a stretch of his life that felt like terror and turns out to have been groundless. A fear was held up before him, it crushed his spirit, and only on the far side did everyone see there had been nothing to dread. He describes being driven, hemmed in front and back, hunted without rest, until the pursuit itself delivered him to its goal. The point lands in the last line: the very people and pressures that closed in on him, those near and familiar, were the ones who set him before God. What looked like persecution was the road to the meeting.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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