Confession, the trap of pretense
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दंभें कीतिन पोट भरे मानी जन । स्वहित कारण नव्हे कांहीं ॥1॥
अंतरती तुझे पाय मज दुरी । धरितां हे थोरी जाणिवेची ॥ध्रु.॥
पिंडाच्या पाळणें धांवती विकार । मज दावेदार मजमाजी ॥2॥
कैसा करूं घात आपुला आपण । धरूनि गुमान लोकलाज ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे मज दावी तो सोहोळा । देखें पाय डोळां तुझे देवा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Through pretense one may fill the belly and win the world's respect, but none of it serves one's true welfare. Your feet grow distant from me when I cling to the pride of being a knower. The sense-desires that arise from nursing this body are claimants against me from within my own self. How can I bring about my own destruction by clinging to vanity and the fear of public opinion? Says Tuka, show me that celebration. Let my eyes behold Your feet, O God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Through pretense, fame and a full belly come, and people honor me. But none of it serves my real good. Your feet move far from me when I hold on to the pride of being a knower. The desires bred by pampering this body run loose; they are claimants against me from inside my own self. How can I work my own ruin like this, clinging to vanity and the fear of what people will say? Tuka says: show me that celebration. Let my eyes see your feet, O God.
What it means
Tukaram confesses the quiet danger of religious show: putting on a pious front does win food, reputation, and respect, yet it does nothing for his actual welfare. Worse, the pride of posing as a knower pushes God's feet further away. He sees that the appetites he feeds by indulging the body have turned into enemies pressing their claims from within. He asks how he can keep ruining himself for the sake of vanity and the fear of public opinion, and turns the whole confession into a single plea: drop the act, and let his eyes simply behold God's feet.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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