Devotion as watchdog, kept for the task
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांखिळलों प्रीती गळां । भुंके वेळा जाणोनियां॥1॥
तुमचें मी केशीराजा । सुनें या काजा पािळलों ॥ध्रु.॥
आलें गेलें कळे वाटा । कोण निटा वाकडिया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आलें वारी । दुरितें दुरी नातळतां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am chained with love around my neck, and I bark at the proper hours. I am Your watchdog, O Lord Keshi, kept for this very purpose. I can tell who comes and goes, who walks the straight path and who the crooked. Says Tuka, I have kept sins at a distance, not letting them come near.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am chained at the neck by love, and I bark at the right hours, knowing the time. I am Yours, O Keshiraja; You keep me as a dog for this very work. I can tell who comes and who goes along the road, who is straight and who is crooked. Tuka says: I have come on guard, keeping sins far off, not letting them touch.
What it means
Tukaram continues the watchdog image and shows what binds him: not an iron chain but love, fastened at the neck, which makes his service willing. He belongs wholly to God, here called Keshiraja, and is kept for exactly this task, to bark at the right moments. His worth is discernment: he can read the road, telling the honest passerby from the crooked one. The work he reports is steady guarding, keeping sins at such a distance that they cannot even brush against the house he watches.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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