Autobiography, breaking with the world for His feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गावलोकिकाहीं लावियेलें पिसें । काय सांगों ऐसें तुजपासीं ॥1॥
तोंड काळें केलें फिरविलें मज । नाहीं धरिली लाज पांडुरंगा ॥ध्रु.॥
काय तुजपासीं सांगों हें गाहाणें । मग काय जिणें तुझें माझें ॥2॥
कोणासाटीं आतां करावा संसार । केली वारावार आपणें चि ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी मोडिला घरचार । धरियेला धीर तुझ्या पायीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The village and the world have driven me mad. How can I tell You what has happened? They have blackened my face and turned me around. They show no shame, O Panduranga. What complaint shall I bring before You? If I do, what life remains for You and me together? For whose sake should I continue this worldly life? I have been shamed again and again by my own doing. Says Tuka, I have broken with my household. My resolve rests firmly at Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The village and the world have made me out to be mad. What can I tell You of this? They blackened my face and turned me about. They felt no shame, O Panduranga. What complaint shall I bring to You? If I do, what life is left for You and me? For whose sake should I keep this worldly life going now? I have brought ruin on myself, again and again, by my own hand. Tuka says: I have broken up my household. I have set my firm trust at Your feet.
What it means
Tukaram tells how the world treated him once he turned wholly to God: it called him mad, shamed him publicly, humiliated him without shame. Yet he refuses to lodge a real complaint, because a quarrel over insults would only put distance between him and the Lord. He asks for whom he should keep up ordinary worldly life at all, and admits the break was his own doing, repeated by choice. The poem ends with the decision made: he has dismantled his home and household ties and placed all his steadiness in God's feet, accepting the world's scorn as the price of that refuge.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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