Autobiography, the peddlers of my verses
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझी पाठ करा कवी । उट लावी दारोदार ॥१॥
तंव तया पारखी सिव । लाजे ठाव सांडितां ॥ध्रु.॥
उष्टावळी करूनि जमा । कुंथुनि प्रेमा आणितसे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे बाहेरमुदी । आहा च गोविंदीं न सरती ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Some memorize my verses and peddle them door to door. But when an assayer touches the work, the pretender is shamed and abandons the very place. He gathers defiled remnants and strains to produce feeling from them. Tuka says: these outwardly sealed frauds will never be accepted by Govinda.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Some people memorize my verses and hawk them door to door. But the moment a true judge tests the work, the pretender is shamed and slinks away from the spot. He scrapes together leftover scraps and strains and grunts to fake real feeling. Tuka says: these frauds, sealed shut on the outside and empty within, will never be accepted by Govinda.
What it means
Tukaram turns on those who use his poems as a trade, reciting them for gain or repute without the love that made them. The assayer is his test: bring such a performer before someone who can tell real from counterfeit, and the act collapses. The cutting image is of a man straining to manufacture devotional emotion out of borrowed scraps. His verdict is that God is not fooled by polish; the outwardly impressive but inwardly empty will not be received. What cannot be faked is the feeling, and only the feeling counts.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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