Accusation, God pulls the strings
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मूळस्थळ ज्याचें गोमतीचे तीरीं । तो हा सारी दोरी खेळवितो ॥1॥
ऐसें हे कळलें असावें सकळां । चोर त्या वेगळा नाहीं दुजा ॥ध्रु.॥
वैष्णव हे रे तयाचे पाळती । खूण हे निरुती सांगितली ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे आलें अनुभवास । तेणें च आह्मांस नागविलें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
His original home is on the banks of the Gomati; it is He who pulls all the strings of this puppet-show. Let everyone know this: the thief is none other than Him. These Vaishnavas are His keepers; this is the sure sign I am giving you. Says Tukya-bandhu, I have witnessed it firsthand; it is He who has beguiled us.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
His first home is on the banks of the Gomati; it is He who pulls all the strings of this puppet-show. Everyone should know this: the thief is none other than Him. These Vaishnavas are His watchmen; that is the sure sign I am giving you. Tukya-bandhu says: I have seen it for myself; it is He who has stripped us bare.
What it means
The poet names the culprit openly: the God whose home is by the Gomati works every figure in the world like a puppeteer, so the one who took his brother is God Himself. He wants this known to all, and offers a sign by which to recognize the truth, that the devotees, the Vaishnavas, are God's own keepers. The closing line is not bitter contempt but rueful confession from experience: he has watched it happen, and the one who beguiled and emptied them out is the very Lord he loves.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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