Repentance, blaming the touchstone
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सख्यत्वासी गेलों करीत सलगी । नेणें चि अभागी महिमा तुझा ॥1॥
पावलों आपुलें केलें लाहें रास । निद।वां परिस काय होय ॥ध्रु.॥
कष्टविलासी म्यां चांडाळें संसारीं । अद्यापिवरि तरि उपदेशीं ॥2॥
उचित अनुचित सांभािळलें नाहीं । कान्हा ह्मणे कांहीं बोलों आतां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I presumed upon friendship and took liberties with You, not knowing, unfortunate as I am, the depth of Your greatness. I have received what I deserved; how can I blame the touchstone for my own failings? I, a wretch, have burdened You with worldly toils. Even so, You continue to instruct me. Says Kanha, what more can I say about what is fitting and what is not?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I came close in friendship and took liberties with You. I did not know, unlucky as I am, how great You are. I have received only what I earned; how can I blame the touchstone for my own faults? Wretch that I am, I have burdened You with the toils of this world. And even so, You go on teaching me. Kanha says: what more can I say now about what is right and what is wrong?
What it means
The poet looks back on a closeness he treated too casually, presuming on friendship with God before he understood Whom he was speaking to. Now he sees his own smallness and refuses to put the blame outside himself; the touchstone turns iron to gold, so the failure is the iron's, not the stone's. He confesses that he dragged God into his worldly troubles, and yet God keeps instructing him patiently. The honesty is the prayer: he stops arguing over right and wrong and simply admits the fault is his.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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