Autobiography, contemplation alone as service
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं जप तप जीवाची आटणी । मनासी दाटणी नाहीं केली ॥1॥
निजलिया ठायीं पोकारिला धांवा । सांकडें तें देवा तुझें मज ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं आणूनियां समपिनलें जळ । सेवा ते केवळ चिंतनाची ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मीं वेचिलीं उत्तरें । घेतलीं उदारें साच भावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have not performed austerities or penances. I have not forced or disciplined the mind. From the very place where I lay, I cried out to You. This difficulty, O God, is between You and me. I have not fetched and offered water. My only service has been that of contemplation. Says Tuka, I have spent my words, and the generous Lord has accepted them as genuine.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have done no chanting, no austerity, no grinding down of the body. I have not crushed or disciplined the mind. From the very spot where I lay, I called out and ran to you. This trouble of mine, O God, is between you and me. I brought no water and poured it in offering. My only service has been remembrance. Tuka says: I spent only my words, and the open-handed Lord took them as true.
What it means
Tukaram lays out plainly what his path was not: no formal penance, no forced control of the mind, none of the standard rituals like offering water. He simply cried out from wherever he happened to be and made his need a private matter between himself and God. His entire worship was contemplation, the inner holding of God in mind. The point lands in the last line: he offered nothing but his words, and the generous Lord accepted them as genuine, which means heartfelt remembrance outweighs every elaborate rite.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
More in this theme →