The tenderness of God, carrying us across
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जो भक्तांचा विसावा । उभा पाचारितो धांवा ॥1॥
हातीं प्रेमाचें भातुकें । मुखीं घाली कवतुकें । भवसिंधू सुखें । उतरी कासे लावूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
थोर भक्तांची आस । पाहे भोंवताली वास ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कृपादानी । फेडी आवडीची धणी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He who is the resting place of devotees stands calling out to them. In His hands He holds the toy of love, placing it tenderly in their mouths. With joy He carries them across the ocean of worldly existence, lifting them to His hip. He greatly longs for His devotees, looking all around for them. Says Tuka, He is the Giver of grace who fills the full measure of the devotee's longing.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He who is the resting place of his devotees stands calling them, running to them. In his hands he holds the toy of love, and he tenderly puts it in their mouths. With joy he carries them across the ocean of the world, lifting them onto his hip. He longs greatly for his devotees, looking all around for them. Tuka says: he is the Giver of grace, who fills the whole measure of the devotee's longing.
What it means
Tukaram paints God as a tender parent rather than a distant judge. He is the place his devotees come home to rest, and he does not wait for them: he stands calling, he runs out to meet them. The images are domestic and intimate, the toy of love put gently into the mouth, the child lifted onto the hip and carried, and that crossing is over the whole ocean of worldly existence. The reversal is the heart of it: it is God who longs, scanning all around for his devotees. He gives grace freely and satisfies the devotee's longing to the full.
The Nature of God
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