Autobiography, the Guru's initiation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सद्गुारायें कृपा मज केली । परी नाहीं घडली सेवा कांहीं ॥१॥
सांपडविलें वाटे जातां गंगास्नाना । मस्तकीं तो जाणा ठेविला कर ॥ध्रु.॥
भोजना मागती तूप पावशेर । पडिला विसर स्वप्नामाजी ॥२॥
कांहीं कळहे उपजला अंतराय । म्हणोनियां काय त्वरा जाली ॥३॥
राघवचैतन्य कैशवचैतन्य । सांगितली खुण मळिकेची ॥४॥
बाबाजी आपलें सांगितलें नाम । मंत्र दिला राम कृष्ण हरि ॥५॥
माघाशुद्ध दशमी पाहुनि गुरुवार । केला अंगीकार तुका म्हणे ॥६॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The Sadguru showed me grace, though I had done no service to deserve it. He caught hold of me on the road as I was going for a bath in the Ganga and placed his hand upon my head. He asked for a quarter-measure of ghee with his meal, but I forgot this in a dream. Some dispute arose as an obstacle, and therefore there was haste. Raghava Chaitanya, Keshava Chaitanya, gave me the sign of the rosary. Babaji told me his own name and gave me the mantra: Rama, Krishna, Hari. Says Tuka, on Thursday, the tenth day of the bright half of Magha, he accepted me as his own.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The Sadguru showed me grace, though I had done no service to earn it. He caught hold of me on the road as I was going to bathe in the Ganga, and placed his hand on my head. He asked for a quarter-measure of ghee with his meal, and I forgot it in a dream. Some quarrel arose as an obstacle, and so there was haste. Raghava Chaitanya, Keshava Chaitanya: he gave me the sign of the rosary. Babaji told me his own name and gave me the mantra: Rama, Krishna, Hari. Tuka says: on Thursday, the tenth day of the bright half of Magha, he accepted me as his own.
What it means
Tukaram is telling the story of his own initiation and insisting it was pure gift. He had done nothing to deserve a teacher, yet the Sadguru stopped him on the road to the river and laid a hand on his head. The middle lines record the homely, dreamlike details around the event: a request for ghee forgotten in a dream, a dispute that hurried things along. Then comes the lineage and the heart of the gift: the names Raghava Chaitanya and Keshava Chaitanya, the sign of the rosary, the teacher Babaji, and the mantra Rama, Krishna, Hari. Tukaram dates the moment exactly, the way one remembers the turning point of a life.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
More in this theme →