Argument with God, who carries the burden
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आपण चाळक बुद्धीच्या संचारा । आह्मांसी वेव्हारा पात्र केलें ॥1॥
काय जालें तरी नेघा तुह्मीं भार । आणीक कोणां थोर ह्मणों सांगा ॥ध्रु.॥
पंच भूतें तंव कर्माच्या या मोटा । येथें खरा खोटा कोण भाव ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं बोलावया जागा । कां देवा वाउगा श्रम करूं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You are the one who directs the movements of the mind; You have made us instruments for worldly dealings. Yet whatever happens, You refuse to bear the burden. Tell me, whom else should I call great? The five elements are but bundles of karma; who here is genuine and who is false? Says Tuka, there is no ground left for speaking; why, O Lord, should I labor in vain?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You are the one who moves the mind from inside; you have made us instruments for worldly dealings. Yet whatever happens, you will not bear the load. Then tell me, whom else should I call great? The five elements are only bundles of karma; here who is true and who is false? Tuka says: there is no ground left to speak from; why, Lord, should I labor in vain?
What it means
Tukaram presses a complaint that doubles as surrender. If God himself directs the mind and makes us his instruments for living in the world, then God cannot also refuse responsibility for what follows. He grants there is no one else worth calling great, so the buck stops nowhere but with God. The body is only the five elements, bundles of past karma, and at that level the labels true and false dissolve. So he lays down the argument: there is no firm place left to stand and protest from, and striving against this on his own is wasted effort.
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