Honest doubt, the unsolved riddle
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जनीं जनादनन ऐकतों हे मात । कैसा तो वृत्तांत न कळे आह्मां ॥1॥
जन्म जरा मरण कवण भोगी भोग । व्याधि नाना रोग सुखदुःखें ॥ध्रु.॥
पापपुण्यें शुद्धाशुद्ध आचरणें । हीं कोणांकारणें कवणें केलीं ॥2॥
आह्मां मरण नाश तूं तंव अविनाश । कैसा हा विश्वास साच मानूं ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तूं चि निवडीं हा गुढार । दाखवीं साचार तें चि मज ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I hear this teaching that God dwells in all beings. Yet how this can be so is not clear to me. Who endures birth, old age, and death? Who suffers disease and countless ailments, joy and sorrow? Sin and virtue, purity and impurity of conduct: for whom were these made, and by whom? We are subject to death and destruction, while You are imperishable. How can I truly hold this faith as real? Says Tuka, You alone can resolve this mystery. Show me what is true.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I hear the teaching that God dwells in all beings. Yet I cannot see how this can be. Who is it that bears birth, old age, and death? Who suffers disease and countless ailments, joy and sorrow? Sin and merit, pure and impure conduct: for whom were these made, and by whom? We are subject to death and decay, while you are imperishable. How can I hold this faith as truly real? Tuka says: you alone can untie this knot. Show me what is true.
What it means
Tukaram lays out a real difficulty instead of pretending it away. He has heard that God lives in every being, but he cannot reconcile it with experience. If God is in all, then who exactly is the one suffering birth, age, sickness and death, and who bears the weight of sin and merit? The contradiction sharpens: we perish, God does not, so how can the two be one. Rather than force a glib answer, he hands the riddle back to God as the only one who can resolve it, asking to be shown the truth directly. The honesty is itself a form of devotion: he wants the real thing, not a comforting slogan.
The Nature of God
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