Autobiography, low birth, God as everything
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शूद्रवंशी जन्मलों । ह्मणोनि दंभें मोकलिलों ॥1॥
अरे तूं चि माझा आतां । मायबाप पंढरीनाथा ॥ध्रु.॥
घोकाया अक्षर। मज नाहीं अधिकार ॥2॥
सर्वभावें दीन । तुका ह्मणे यातिहीन ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I was born in a lowly caste, and so I was abandoned to my own pretensions. But now You alone are my everything, O Lord of Pandhari, my mother and father. I have no right to recite the sacred syllables. Says Tuka, I am utterly humble, bereft of caste and station.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I was born in a low caste. Because of that I was left to my own pretenses. But now you alone are mine, lord of Pandhari, my mother and my father. I have no right to recite the sacred syllables. Tuka says: I am lowly in every way, with no caste and no standing.
What it means
Tukaram names the social wall placed in front of him: born low, he was shut out and left with nothing but empty show. Against that exclusion he sets a direct claim on God, who needs no qualification of birth: the lord of Pandhari is his and is mother and father to him. He admits he has no sanctioned right to chant the scriptural syllables, but turns that very lack into his standing before God. Owning his lowliness completely becomes the ground of refuge: where caste and station give him nothing, God receives him as he is.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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