Thread by @chidananday5

I decided to write thread on Bhakti poetry on #worldpoetryday2021 but couldn't find the perfect translation of the poems written by Saint Tukaram. Finally I found the perfect translation of his selective poems by Shri. Dilip Chitre.
#हिन्दू_नववर्ष #तुकाराम #तुकाराम_गाथा

So I'll start posting translation of the beautiful poems of Saint Tukaram on this auspicious day of #गुढीपाडवा Bahinabai Sioorkar, the younger contemporary of Saint Tukaram , has used perfect metaphor of a temple to describe the Varkari tradition of Bhakti.

She says that , Saint Dnyaneshwar laid its foundation , Namdeo built its walls , Eknath gave it a central pillar & Tukaram became its crown. Follow this thread & read his poems & you'll get to know why he is called as Crown of Varkari Sampraday..

Words are the only Jewels I posses
Words are the only clothes I wear
Words are the only food that sustains my life
Words are the only wealth I distribute among the people
Says Tuka , witness the word , He is God , I worship him with words.. (1)

(2) I was only dreaming Namdeo & Vitthal stepped into my dream." Your job is to make poems " said Namdeo , " Stop fooling around "
Vitthala gave me the measure & slapped me gently.
To arouse me from my dream , within a dream.

" The grand total of the poems Namdeo vowed to write was one billion " He said , " All the unwritten ones , Tuka are your dues "

(3) If only you would
give me refuge O Lord
To stay at your feet
In line of Saints.

I've already left behind
The world I loved
Don't stand still
It's your move now m

My caste is low
My origins are humble
A little help from you
Will go a long away

Thanks to Namdeo
You visited me
In a dream that left me
Poetry..

(4) This is really extraordinary , O Hari.
You're supposed to relieve misery ,
& here I'm , your own devotee
Whose house is haunted by poverty.

The more I excel in poems praising you
The more my work seems flawed
This is yet another amazing paradox
Watchfulness is rewarded with anxiety

Says Tuka , My Lord , it's just dawned on me.
To serve you is the ultimate difficulty..

(5)
Have I utterly lost my hold on reality
To imagine myself writing poetry ?
I'm sure your illustrious devotees ,
All famous poets , will laugh at me.

Today I face the toughest test of life
Whereof I have no experience
Thereof I have been asked to sing.

I'm the innocent one asked to sin ,
Without any foretaste of what I must commit
I'm just a beginner untutored in the art
My master himself is unrevealed to me.

Illuminate & inspire me , O Lord.
Says Tuka , my time is running out.

(6)
I scribble & cancel it again
O heavenly critic , to pass your test.

I choose a word only to change it,
Hoping to find one you'd like the best.

I beg your pardon again & again
Lord , let not my words go waste.

Says Tuka , please talk back at least
So that this poem will have something to say.

(7)
Where does one begin with you ?
O Lord , you've no opening line.

It is so hard to get you started
Everything I tried went wrong
You've used up all my faculties.

What I've just said vanished in the sky
& I've fallen to the ground again.

Says Tuka my mind is stunned
I can't find a word to say

८. No better Abhanga to post on #WorldEarthDay2021 #WorldEarthDay

Trees , creepers & creatures of the forest are my kith & kin.
And birds that sweetly sing.(१)

This is bliss ! How I love being alone!
Here I'm beyond good & evil ;
Commit no sin.(२)

The sky is my canopy
the earth my throne.
My mind is free to dwell wherever it will..(३)

A piece of cloth , one all purpose bowl
Take care of all my bodily needs
The wind tell me the time. (४)

I feat on the cuisine of Hari's lore ,
A delighted connoisseur. (५)

Says Tuka , I talk to myself
For arguments sake.. (६)

९.

He who utters the Name of God while walking
gets the merit of a sacrifice at every step
His body becomes a place of pilgrimage.
He who repeats God’s Name while working
always finds perfect peace.

He who utters the Name of God while eating
gets the merit of a fast,
even though he has taken his meals.

Even if one were to give in charity
the whole world encircled by the seas
it would not equal the merit of repeating the Name..

By the power of the Name
one will know what cannot be known,
One will see what cannot be seen,
One will speak what cannot be spoken,
One will meet what cannot be met.
Tuka says.
Incalculable is the gain that comes
From repeating the Name of God.

10)
All I feel is God
God is all I believe

Who brought the world into being ,
Makes me speak.

It wasn't I , who ordered these words
The idea is His.

I wasn't trying to become celebrity
You'd be lucky if you knew what I mean

Says Tuka , what I say must be true ,
Because it starts from him..

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He who speaks these poems through me
Is the only one who knows
how they were made.

Don't ask me.
I only carry them , like his own load
And beg for bread , when I'm hungry.

He gave me the measure.
I just dole out his stuff , when he asks me.
I'm only the helper , he's the Boss.
I'm his empty measure , filled with his grain ,
Emptied by his order.

Pandurang is my maker ,
& he is the giver.

The real world belongs to the parents.
A child only plays ,
The game , mimicking the parents life.
His cows & buffaloes are real ,
Mine are toys of clay.

Says Tuka ,
Vitthal is the one ,
who takes the
words out of my mouth.

13)
Some of you may say
I'm the author of these poems.
But believe me
This voice is not my own

I've no personal skill.
It is the cosmic one
Making me speak.

What does a poor fellow like me
Know of the subltities of meaning ?
I speak what Govind Makes me say.

He has appointed me
To measure it out.
The authority rests with the master
Not me.

Says Tuka , I'm only the servant.
See ?
All this bears
The seal of His Name.

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Mother look at me with loving eyes
How dejected I am

Suckle my soul
& That's no metaphor

I pine for the truth
It's therefore I worry about words.

Pity me Says Tuka,
I am wrung for my suffering is real

My task makes me Gasp.

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BEING HUMAN
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45) Advice to an Angry Wife - (1)

46 ) Advice to an Angry Wife - (2)

47) Advice to an Angry Wife - (3)

48) Advice to an Angry Wife - (4)

49) Advice to an Angry Wife - (5)

50) Advice to an Angry Wife - (6)

51) Advice to an Angry Wife - (7)

52) Advice to an Angry Wife - (8)

53) Advice to an Angry Wife -(9)

54) Advice to an Angry Wife - (10)

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60) The cripple - (1)

61) The cripple - (2)

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64) Being A Devotee..
The image of Vithoba - (1)

65) The Image of Vithoba - (2)

66) The Image of Vithoba -(3)

67) The Image of Vithoba - (4)

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82) from tukaram's letter to Vitthala --
Says Tuka
O Lord of Pandharpur
Do not ever treat me
As anything else..

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पंढरीचे भूत मोठे | आल्या गेल्या झडपी वाटे ||
बहू खेचरीचे रान | जाता वेडे होय मन ||

तेथे जाऊ नका कोणी | गेले, नाही आले परतोनी || तुका पंढरीस गेला | पुन्हा जन्मा नाही आला ||

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93) God's Own Dog - 1

94) God's own dog - 2

95) God's own dog - 3

96) God's own dog - 4

97) God's own dog - 5

98) God's own dog - 6

99) God's own dog - 7

100) God's own dog - 8

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128) The Brahmin..

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131) The Ascetic

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163) Being A Saint..

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