God as mother, no need to plan
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न लगे मायेसी बाळें निरवावें । आपुल्या स्वभावें ओढे त्यासी ॥1॥
मज कां लागला करणें विचार । ज्याचा जार भार त्याचे मायां ॥ध्रु.॥
गोड धड त्यासी ठेवी न मगतां । समाधान खातां नेदी मना ॥2॥
खेळतां गुंतलें उमगूनी आणी । बैसोनियां स्तनीं लावी बळें ॥3॥
त्याच्या दुःखेंपणें आपण खापरीं । लाही तळीं वरी होय जैसी ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे देह विसरे आपुला । आघात तो त्याला लागों नेदी ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A mother need not send her child an invitation; the child is drawn to her by its own nature. Why then should I make any plans? Whoever is God's own, God as Mother bears that one's every burden. She keeps the good and nourishing food ready for the child without being asked, and does not let the child's mind be unsettled while eating. When the child wanders off in play, she notices and brings it back, sits it down, and presses it to her breast by force. When the child is in pain, she herself suffers; she turns and leaps like grain popping in the fire. Says Tuka, she forgets her own body and does not let any harm touch the child.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A mother does not need to be invited by her child. By her own nature she is drawn to it. So why should I make plans? Whoever is God's own, God as mother carries their whole burden. She keeps the good, sweet food ready without being asked, and does not let the child's mind be troubled while it eats. When the child wanders off in play, she notices, brings it back, sits it down, and presses it to her breast by force. When the child is in pain, she suffers too; she leaps and turns like grain popping in the fire. Tuka says: she forgets her own body, and lets no harm touch the child.
What it means
Tukaram answers the anxious habit of planning our own rescue by changing the picture: God is not a master to be petitioned but a mother who comes by her own nature. A child does not arrange for its mother's care; she is already drawn to it, already feeding it, already chasing it down when it strays. So the devotee's striving and scheming is beside the point, because God carries the whole burden of the one who belongs to God. The image of the mother leaping like grain bursting in the fire when her child hurts is the heart of it: God's love is not cool and managerial but anguished, self-forgetting, fiercely protective. The teaching is to stop calculating and rest in that care.
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