Confession, claiming the servant's name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव्हें परि ह्मणवीं दास । कांहीं निमित्तास मूळ केलें॥1॥
तुमचा तो धर्म कोण । हा आपण विचारा ॥धृ. ॥
नाहीं शुद्ध आचरण । परी चरण चिंतितों ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पांडुरंगा । ऐसें कां गा नेणां हें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am not worthy, yet I call myself Your servant; I have at least made a beginning with some pretext. What then is Your duty? Consider this for Yourself. My conduct is not pure, yet I contemplate Your feet. Says Tuka, O Panduranga, how can You not know this about me?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am not worthy, yet I call myself Your servant. On some pretext, I have at least made a start. What is Your duty here? Think about that Yourself. My conduct is not pure, and still I keep thinking of Your feet. Tuka says: O Panduranga, how can You not know this about me?
What it means
Tukaram comes before God admitting he has no right to the title he has taken. He knows he is unworthy, yet he has dared to call himself a servant and made some small beginning toward God. Then he turns the burden back: if I have claimed You, what does that lay upon You to do; consider it for Yourself. He owns that his behavior is impure even while his mind stays fixed on Vitthal's feet, and his final note is intimate, almost reproachful: You, Panduranga, who know everything, surely You already know me as I am, so You cannot pretend not to.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
More in this theme →