Keeping the kirtan, fretful affection
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लावूनियां पुष्टी पोरें । आणि करकर कथेमाजी ॥1॥
पडा पायां करा विनंती । दवडा हातीं धरोनियां ॥ध्रु.॥
कुर्वाळूनि बैसे मोहें । प्रेम कां हे नासीतसे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वाटे चित्त । करा फजित ह्मणऊनि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Bring the children, seat them, and if they make noise during the story, fall at their feet, entreat them, and lead them gently away by the hand. A parent who fondles the child with affection should not destroy the atmosphere of love. Says Tuka, my chitta wants to cause a scene, for it feels disgraced.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Bring the children in, seat them down. And they fidget and chatter all through the story. So fall at their feet, beg them, take them by the hand, and lead them away. If you fondle a child out of love, do not then go and spoil the love. Tuka says: my mind wants to make a scene over this, to shame them and put them right.
What it means
Tukaram catches a small disturbance during the telling of God's story: children brought along grow restless and break the atmosphere. He counsels patience and even humility, that you should entreat them and lead them out gently rather than scold. The point is that affection cannot be switched off when it is inconvenient; the same tenderness that fondled the child must govern how you correct it. Then he turns the test inward, confessing that his own mind itches to make a public scene and shame the disrupters. He names that impulse honestly, so the warning lands on his own heart, not just on the noisy children.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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