Devotion as watchdog, trusting only God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुनियांचा हा चि भाव । आपला ठाव राखावा ॥1॥
दुजियाचा येऊं वारा । नेदूं घरावरी देऊं ॥ध्रु.॥
केली याची फाडाफाडी। तडामोडी क्षेत्राची ॥2॥
पातेजत नाहीं लोकां । तुका देवावांचूनि॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The nature of a watchdog is to guard its master's ground. Do not let the wind of another's influence blow over this house. It has been marked and bounded; the territory has been staked out with clear lines. Says Tuka, I trust no one in this world except God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This alone is the watchdog's nature: to guard its own ground. We will not let another's wind blow over the house. The boundary has been torn out and marked; the field has been staked with clear lines. Tuka says: I trust no one in this world except God.
What it means
Tukaram keeps the watchdog before us to define faithfulness as the guarding of one ground and no other. He will not let even the wind of another influence pass over the house; the territory of the heart has been measured and fenced so the line is unmistakable. The closing turn states the whole stance plainly: he places his trust in no one in the world, in God alone. The fierce guarding of the earlier verses resolves here into a single loyalty that refuses every rival claim on the soul.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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