263. Tukaram (1598-1649 A.D.)

A prominent bhakti saint of Maharashtra was Tukaram.  Tukaram's parents died early, and he had to shoulder the burden of maintaining a huge family. He tried to carry out his hereditary profession of petty trader cum money lender but he suffered heavy losses due to his over generous nature. His wife and son died due to starvation. He led a married life with two wives. One of them known as Rakuma bai died due to famine for lack of food. His son Santu also died. Tukaram went to Bhambanatha and other places and gave himself to spiritual readings. His second wife was more practical and kept nagging him for his ways. All this made him turn to God in order to seek internal peace. Tukaram’s abhangs tell us about his spiritual journey, the difficulties in the path of Bhakti, his heart rending experiences in his path to Bhakti and as he realized God the gleam of light began to shine on him. In fact there is a kind of Hegelian dialecticism in Tukarams soul. He first withdraws himself from the world with a determination to win  spiritual knowledge. Then comes the stage of negation, the dark side of Tukaram's soul where he is warring with his own self. Finally there is a stage of affirmation, namely the transforming the original determination and following negation to the final vision of the God head a stage which supersedes them both.