Complaint, the thief of the body
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पडिला हृषीकेशी । जाब सकळ करणें ॥1॥
माझें नेलें पांघरुण । ठावें असोन दुर्बळ दीन ।
माणसांमधून । उठविलें खाणोया ॥ध्रु.॥
आह्मीं हें जगऊनि होतों पाणी । संदीं देवदेव करूनि ।
जालासी कोठोनि । पैदा चोरा देहाच्या ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे केलें। उघडें मजचि उमगिलें ।
ऐसें काय गेलें । होतें तुज न पुरतें॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Hrishikesha must now answer for everything. You snatched my blanket, knowing full well I am poor and helpless. You pulled me out of human society and stripped me bare. I had been quietly nurturing my life, worshipping You privately on the side. From where did You emerge, O thief of the body? Says Tukya-bandhu, You have laid me open. What was it that You lacked so terribly?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Hrishikesha must answer for everything now. You snatched my blanket, knowing full well I am poor and helpless. You pulled me out of human society and stripped me bare. I had been quietly nurturing my life, worshipping You privately on the side. Where did You come from, O thief of the body? Tukya-bandhu says: You have laid me wide open. What was it that You lacked so badly?
What it means
The complaint here is that God did not stay a private comfort but came as a thief and took everything. The speaker had kept his devotion modest and on the side, tending an ordinary life; God stripped that life bare and pulled him out of the world of ordinary men. Calling Vitthal the thief of the body names the stakes: it is not goods that were stolen but the whole self. The unanswerable question, what did You lack that You had to take this from me, throws the demand for an accounting back on God. Beneath the grievance is the recognition that grace, once it comes, leaves nothing of the old life standing.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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