Self-examination, the poor servant of Vishnu
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं मज कृपा केली पांडुरंगें । संताचिया संगें पोट भरीं ॥1॥
चतुराचे सभे पंडित कुशळ । मी काय दुर्बळ विष्णुदास॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नेणें करूं समाधान । धरिले चरण विठोबाचे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Panduranga has not shown me His grace; I fill my belly in the company of saints. In the assembly of the clever, among scholars and learned ones, am I not also a servant of Vishnu, however poor? Says Tuka, I do not know how to find contentment; I have simply held fast to the feet of Vithoba.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Panduranga has not shown me his grace. I fill my belly in the company of the saints. In the assembly of the clever, among skilled scholars, what am I but a poor servant of Vishnu? Tuka says: I do not know how to make myself content. I have only held the feet of Vithoba.
What it means
Tukaram measures himself honestly and finds himself small. He admits he has not received the grace he longs for, and that he lives on the company of the saints, fed in their fellowship. Set beside clever scholars in their learned assemblies, he claims no learning, only the plain title of a poor servant of Vishnu. The poem refuses to dress up his condition. The single thing he has done, and the thing the whole poem rests on, is to take hold of Vithoba's feet and not let go, even while contentment stays out of reach.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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