Complaint, the reward of devotion
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मायबाप निमाल्यावरी । घातलें भावाचे आभारीं । तो ही परि हरी । तुज जाला असमाई ॥1॥
हे कां भक्तिचे उपकार। नांदतें विध्वंसिलें घर । प्रसन्नता वेव्हार । सेवटीं हे जालासी ॥ध्रु.॥
एका जिवावरी । होतों दोनी कुटुंबारी । चाळवूं तो तरीं । तुज येतो निर्लज्जा ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे भला । आणीक काय ह्मणावें तुला । वेडा त्यानें केला । तुजसवें संबंधु ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
After our parents died, my brother was placed in my care. He too, O Hari, has now become estranged from us, following You. Are these the rewards of devotion? You have destroyed a thriving household. This is the fulfillment, the settlement You have finally delivered. I was maintaining two families on one life; now You come shamelessly to tempt the remaining one. Says Tukya-bandhu, what more can I call You? The one who befriended You was made into a madman.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
After our parents died, my brother was put in my care. He too, O Hari, has now grown estranged from us, following You. Are these the rewards of devotion? You have destroyed a thriving household. This is the settlement You have finally delivered. I was keeping two families alive on one life. Now You come shamelessly to tempt the one that is left. Tukya-bandhu says: what more can I call You? The one who befriended You was made into a madman.
What it means
The speaker recounts a plain duty: with the parents dead, he was raising his brother, and on one set of shoulders he was holding up two households. God's return on all that devotion, he says, is the household broken and the brother estranged. The bitter word settlement names what feels like a cruel final accounting. Now, with one family barely left, he sees God reaching for that one too. The line that whoever befriends God is turned into a madman captures the fear running under the whole cycle: that nearness to the divine is not safe, that it unmakes ordinary life rather than blessing it.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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