Confession, naming one's own corruption
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देवा मी चांडाळ चांडाळ । ह्मणतां लागताहे वेळ । नसे पाहातां भूमंडळ । ऐसा अमंगळ खळ दुसरा ॥1॥
जन्मा उपजलियापासुनी । असत्य कर्म तें अझुनी । सत्य आचरण नेणें स्वप्नीं । निखळ खाणी अवगुणांची ॥2॥
भक्ति दया अथवा कथा। कानीं न साहवे वार्ता । अखंड विषयांची वेथा । अधम पुरता अधमाहुनी ॥3॥
काम क्रोध दंभ अहंकार । गर्व ताठा मद मत्सर । यांचें तरी माहेरघर । परउपकार वैरी तैसा ॥4॥
निंदा द्वेष घात विश्वास । करितां नाहीं केला आळस । करूं नये ते केले संतउपहास । अभक्ष तें ही भिक्षलें ॥5॥
पािळलें नाहीं पितृवचन। सदा परद्वारीं परधनीं ध्यान । बोलों नये घडलें ऐसें अनोविन । दासीगमन आदिकरूनी ॥6॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O God, even to call myself a wretch takes a long time, for there is no one in all the earth as inauspicious and vile as I. From the very moment of my birth, I have practiced nothing but falsehood. I do not know righteous conduct even in dreams. I am a pure mine of faults. Devotion, compassion, sacred stories, I cannot even bear to hear of them. My mind is ceaselessly tormented by sense-pleasures. I am the lowest of the low, more degraded than the most degraded. Lust, anger, hypocrisy, ego, arrogance, pride, and jealousy, these are my true home. Kindness to others is my enemy. In slander, malice, treachery, and betrayal, I have shown no laziness. I have mocked the saints, that which should never be done. I have consumed what should not be consumed. I did not heed my father's words. My gaze was always fixed on another's door and another's wealth. Unspeakable deeds have been done, beginning with sins too shameful to name.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
O God, even to call myself a wretch takes a long time, for there is no one in all the earth as foul and vile as I. From the very moment of my birth I have done nothing but falsehood. I do not know right conduct even in a dream. I am a pure mine of faults. Devotion, compassion, sacred stories: I cannot even bear to hear of them. My mind is endlessly tormented by sense-pleasures. I am the lowest of the low, more degraded than the most degraded. Lust, anger, hypocrisy, ego, arrogance, stiffness, conceit, jealousy: these are my true home. Doing good to others is my enemy. In slander, malice, treachery, and breaking trust I have shown no laziness. I have mocked the saints, which should never be done. I have eaten what should not be eaten. I did not obey my father's words. My eyes were always on another's door and another's wealth. Things too shameful to speak have been done, beginning with going in to a servant-woman, and worse.
What it means
This is a confession in which Tukaram makes himself the worst man on earth, refusing every comfort of self-excuse. He does not list sins to titillate but to break his own pride: he names lust, anger, hypocrisy and ego as his real household, admits he cannot even stand to hear devotion spoken of, and confesses that doing good to others felt like an enemy. The catalogue runs from slander and betrayal to mocking the very saints and shaming his father, down to deeds he says are too shameful to name. The force of it is self-examination, not despair; by speaking the corruption out loud before God he is dragging it into the light rather than guarding it, which is the first honest move a soul can make.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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