The Lord who chases His servants
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दासों पाछें दौरे राम । सोवे खडा आपें मुकाम ॥1॥
प्रेमरसडी बांधी गळे । खैंच चले उधर ॥ध्रु.॥
आपणे जनसु भुल न देवे । कर हि धर आघें बाट बसावे ॥2॥
तुका प्रभु दीनदयाला। वारि रे तुज पर हुं गोपाला ॥3॥
ऐसा कर घर आवे राम । और धंदा सब छोर हि काम ॥ ध्रु॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Rama runs after His servants. He stands guard while they sleep. He ties the rope of love around their neck and draws them wherever He leads. He does not let His own people go astray. He goes ahead and sits on the road, waiting. Says Tuka, the Lord is compassionate to the lowly. I offer myself up to You, O Gopala. Make it so that Rama comes home. Leave behind all other business and work.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Rama runs after his servants. He stands guard while they sleep. He has tied the rope of love around my neck and pulls me along where he wills. He does not let his own people stray. He goes on ahead and sits down on the road, waiting. Tuka says: the Lord is kind to the lowly. I offer myself up to you, O Gopala. Make it so that Rama comes home. Leave behind all other business and work.
What it means
Tukaram reverses the usual picture: it is not only the devotee who seeks God, but God who runs after the devotee. The Lord stands watch while his servants sleep, binds them with a rope of love, and even goes ahead to sit waiting on the road so they cannot lose their way. The mood is one of being held by a tenderness that will not let go. Tukaram offers himself wholly to Gopala and gives one instruction to the listener: set aside every other occupation, because the one work that matters is making room for Rama to come home.
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