Generosity, the host who refuses no one
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
समर्थासी नाहीं वर्णावर्णभेद । सामग्री ते सर्व सिद्ध घरीं ॥1॥
आदराचे ठायीं बहु च आदर । मागितलें फार तेथें वाढी ॥ध्रु.॥
न ह्मणे सोइरा सुहुदन आवश्यक । राजा आणि रंक सारिखा चि ॥3॥
भाव देखे तेथें करी लडबड । जडा राखे जड निराळें चि ॥3॥
कोणी न विसंभे याचकाचा ठाव । विनवुनी देव शंका फेडी ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे पोट भरुनी उरवी । धालें ऐसें दावी अनुभवें ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
For the Capable One, there is no distinction of high or low station. All provision stands ready in His home. Where there is honor, He returns far greater honor. Where more is asked, He gives even more. He does not distinguish between friend and kin, between king and pauper; all are the same to Him. Where He sees sincere feeling, He bustles about with eager care. Where He finds dullness, He leaves it aside. No one forfeits the supplicant's place. The devotee implores, and God removes all doubt. Says Tuka, He fills the belly full and to overflowing, and by direct experience shows that one is truly satisfied.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
For the Capable One there is no high station and no low; every provision stands ready in his house. Where you bring him honor, he gives back far greater honor; where you ask for much, there he piles on more. He does not weigh whether you are friend or kin or stranger; king and pauper are the same to him. Where he sees real feeling, he bustles about with eager care; where he finds dullness, he leaves it aside. No one loses their place as a beggar at his door; the devotee pleads, and God clears away every doubt. Tuka says: he fills the belly full and over the brim, and by direct experience shows you what it is to be truly satisfied.
What it means
Tukaram pictures God as a boundlessly capable host who keeps an open table and turns no one away by rank. The point is that God's giving is measured by the seeker's sincerity, not by their status: honor him and he returns far more, ask much and he gives more still, and king and pauper stand on equal ground at his door. The one thing he answers to is genuine feeling; where he meets only dullness he simply lets it be, not in scorn but because there is nothing there to feed. The closing claim is experiential, not theoretical: God does not fill you halfway, he fills you to overflowing, and you come to know real satisfaction by tasting it, not by being told.
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