Confession, the preacher's own flaws
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चतुर मी जालों आपुल्या भोंवता । भावेंविण रिता काुंफ्ज अंगीं ॥1॥
आतां पुढें वांयां जावें हें तें काई । कामक्रोधें ठायीं वास केला ॥ध्रु.॥
गुणदोष आले जगाचे अंतरा । भूताच्या मत्सरावरी बुिद्ध ॥2॥
तुका हमणे करूं उपदेश लोकां । नाहीं जालों एका परता दोषा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have become clever only around my own self, yet empty within, without bhava. Now, what is this, going forward uselessly? Lust and anger have made their home within. The faults and virtues of the world have entered within me, and my buddhi is fixed on envy of other beings. Says Tuka, I preach to the world, yet I myself have not transcended a single flaw.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have grown clever around myself, but empty inside, with no real feeling. Now what is this, going on uselessly ahead? Lust and anger have made their home in me. The faults and virtues of the world have entered my heart, and my mind sits on envy of other beings. Tuka says: I preach to people, yet I myself have not gotten past a single flaw.
What it means
Tukaram is confessing the gap between his teaching and his own state. He admits he is clever on the surface but hollow within, without true devotional feeling, while lust and anger have settled in and made themselves at home. His attention has soured into judging the world's faults and virtues and into envy of other creatures. The sting falls on himself: he stands up to instruct others while he has not risen above even one of his own faults, and the poem turns the spotlight on that self-deception rather than on anyone he teaches.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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