Devotion, the lover's sweet complaint
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देऊनियां प्रेम मागितलें चित्त । जाली फिटाफिट तुह्मां आह्मां ॥1॥
काशानें उदार तुह्मांसी ह्मणावें । एक नेसी भावें एक देसी ॥ध्रु.॥
देऊनियां थोडें नेसील हें फार । कुंटिसी विचार अवघियांचा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मां भांडवल चित्त । देउनी दुिश्चत पाडियेलें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You gave me love and asked for my mind in return. This has been a fair exchange between us. How can You be called generous when You take one thing in affection and give another? You give a little but take much in return, encompassing everyone in Your reckoning. Says Tuka, our capital was the mind, and by giving it away we have been left in distress.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You gave me love and asked for my mind in return. So you and I have settled the account. How can you be called generous? You wear one thing with affection and hand over another. You give a little and take a great deal; you fold everyone into your reckoning. Tuka says: our only capital was the mind, and by giving it away we have been left undone.
What it means
Tukaram plays at accusing God of striking a one-sided bargain, the way a lover scolds the beloved. God gave love but took the whole mind in exchange, so the books are squared, yet Tukaram pretends to question whether this counts as generosity at all. The complaint is that God gives a little and takes much, drawing every devotee into the same shrewd account. The mock-grievance hides the real gladness: he has handed over his one piece of capital, the mind, and is left helpless, which is exactly what surrender means. The sweetness is that being undone by God is the gain disguised as loss.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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