Lament, ruined by trust
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उचिताचा भाग होतों राखोनियां । दिसती ते वांयां कष्ट गेले ॥1॥
वचनाची कांहीं राहे चि ना रुचि । खळाऐसें वाची कुची जालें ॥ध्रु.॥
विश्वासानें माझें बुडविलें घर । करविला धीर येथवरी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे शेकीं थार नाहीं बुड । कैसें तुह्मीं कोड पुरविलें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I was guarding my rightful share, but all those efforts now seem to have gone to waste. No taste for good counsel remains; like a wicked person, everything has turned foul. Through false trust my household has been ruined; patience was maintained only up to this point. Says Tuka, in the end there is neither ground nor depth. How strangely You have fulfilled Your play.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I was guarding what was rightfully mine, and now all that effort looks wasted. No taste for good counsel stays in me; like a wicked man, everything I speak has turned sour. My trust ruined my house; I held my patience only this far. Tuka says: in the end there is no firm ground and no bottom. How strangely you have had your way with me.
What it means
Tukaram cries out from inside a collapse, the wreck of a life he thought he was managing well. He had been protecting his fair share and keeping his patience, yet the effort has come to nothing, even his speech has gone bitter, and the trust he placed somewhere has brought his whole household down. The final turn hands the ruin to God: there is no solid footing left and no floor underneath, and Tuka says it is the Lord who has worked this strange undoing. The lament does not curse God; it confesses that even disaster is his doing, and stands bewildered before it.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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