Worldly life, robbed by one's own house
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नेलें सळेंबळें । चित्तावित्ताचें गांठोळें ॥1॥
साहए जालीं घरिच्या घरीं । होतां ठायीं च कुठोरी ॥ध्रु.॥
मी पातलों या भावा । कपट तें नेणें देवा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे उघडें केलें । माझें माझ्या हातें नेलें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
By force and cunning, the bundle of my mind and possessions has been taken. My own household conspired against me; the treachery was hatched right at home. I came with innocent faith, knowing nothing of deceit, O Lord. Says Tuka, I was robbed openly, and what was mine was taken by my own hands.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
By force and cunning the bundle of my mind and my wealth was carried off. My own household joined in; the plot was hatched right here at home. I came with honest faith, knowing nothing of deceit, O God. Tuka says: I was robbed in the open, and what was mine was carried off by my own hands.
What it means
Tukaram tells how a man is stripped bare by his own attachments. The bundle of his heart and his goods is taken by force and trickery, and the betrayers are not strangers but his own household, the very ties of family and possession. He came to it all in simple trust, never suspecting the deceit. The sting is in the last line: the robbery happened in broad daylight, and he handed over what was his with his own hands. The pattern to examine is how we surrender ourselves to the very things we cling to.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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