Worldly life, accepting one's lot
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भले लोक नाहीं सांडीत ओळखी । हे तों झाली देखी दुसयाची ॥1॥
असो आतां यासी काय चाले बळ । आपुलें कपाळ वोडवलें ॥ध्रु.॥
समर्थासी काय कोणें हें ह्मणावें । आपुलिया जावें भोगावरि ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मां बोल नाहीं देवा । नाहीं केली सेवा मनोभावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Good people never abandon a relationship. But this has become a spectacle for strangers. Let it be. What force can prevail against this? One must accept what one's own forehead has written. Who can tell the powerful one what to do? One must go and face one's own destiny. Says Tuka, there is no blame on You, O God. I have not served You with a wholehearted mind.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Good people never drop a friendship. But now this has become a show for strangers to watch. Let it be. What strength can stand against this? My own forehead has brought this on me. Who can tell the powerful one what to do? One must go and live out one's own fate. Tuka says: there is no blame on you, O God. I did not serve you with my whole heart.
What it means
Tukaram is wrestling with the pain of being abandoned and watched by outsiders, and he refuses to lay the blame outside himself. He notes that the good keep faith, yet his own situation has become a spectacle for strangers. Instead of protesting, he submits to what fate has written on his forehead and accepts that no one bargains with the all-powerful one. The final turn is the heart of it: he clears God of all blame and points the finger at himself, that he never served wholeheartedly. The lesson is to stop accusing and to examine the half-heartedness in one's own devotion.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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