Confession, faith masked by pretense
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कैचें भांडवल खरा हातीं भाव । कळवळ्यानें माव दावीतसें ॥1॥
आतां माझा अंत नको सर्वजाणा । पाहों नारायणा निवडूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
संतांचें उिच्छष्ट मागिले पंगती । करावें संगती लागे ऐसें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आलों दावूनि विश्वास । संचित तें नास पावे ऐसें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What capital do I have? My genuine feeling is all I hold, and even that true intention gets masked by pretense. Now, O all-knowing Narayana, do not test me any further; see me clearly. In the company of saints I am content with their sacred leftovers, at the last row of their feast. Says Tuka, I have come showing my faith; may my accumulated fate be utterly destroyed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What capital do I hold? Only true feeling in my hand, and even that gets masked by show. Now, O all-knowing one, do not test me further; O Narayana, look and pick me out. I am content with the saints' leftovers, in the last row of their feast; let me only have their company. Tuka says: I have come showing my faith, so that what I have stored up may be destroyed.
What it means
Tukaram owns up to how little he has and how easily even that little is faked. The only real wealth he holds is genuine feeling, and he admits that pretense keeps covering it over; this is honesty about his own divided heart, not a charge against anyone else. So he asks God to stop testing and simply pick him out and see him clearly. He wants no high place: the saints' leftovers and the last seat at their table are enough, as long as he stays in their company. He came openly showing his faith for one purpose, that the whole load of accumulated fate, the stored-up karma, would finally be undone.
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