Confession, the helpless servant pleads
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मी तों सर्वभावें अनधिकारी । होइल कैसी परी नेणों देवा ॥1॥
पुराणींचे अर्थ आणितां मनास । होय कासावीस जीव माझा ॥ध्रु.॥
इंिद्रयांचीं आह्मी पांगिलों अंकितें । त्यांचे रंगीं चित्त रंगलेंसे ॥2॥
एकाचें ही मज न घडे दमन । अवघीं नेमून कैसीं राखों ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे मज तारीं पंढरीराया । नाहीं तरी वांयां गेलों दास ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am utterly unqualified in every way. I do not know what will become of me, O God. When I bring the meanings of the scriptures to mind, my soul becomes distressed. I am a slave to the senses; my heart is colored by their pleasures. I cannot even subdue one of them; how then shall I tame them all? Says Tuka, save me, O King of Pandhari, lest Your servant be lost in vain.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am utterly unfit, in every way. I do not know what will become of me, O God. When I bring the meanings of the scriptures to mind, my soul grows desperate. I am the bonded slave of my senses; my heart is stained with their pleasures. I cannot subdue even one of them. How then am I to bind them all and keep them in order? Tuka says: save me, O King of Pandhari. If you do not, your servant is lost for nothing.
What it means
Tukaram is making an honest confession of weakness and turning it into a plea. He admits he has no qualification for the path on his own strength, and the scriptures only deepen his distress because they show him a standard he cannot meet. He names the real bondage plainly: he is owned by his senses, and his heart is colored by their pleasures. The point he lands on is that self-discipline alone will not work, since he cannot master even a single sense, let alone all of them; his only hope is that the King of Pandhari will rescue him. The self-examination here is the lesson: he stops boasting of effort and throws himself on grace.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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