Nature of God, he weighs the heart, not the offering
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
एकाचिया घाटएा टोके । एक फिके उपचार ॥1॥
ऐसी सवे गोविळया । भाव तया पढियंता ॥ध्रु.॥
एकाचेथें उिच्छष्ट खाय । एका जाय ठकोणि ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सोपें । बहु रूपें अनंत ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
From one person He gladly eats the leftovers; another's offerings He finds tasteless. Such is the nature of this cowherd boy: He values devotion above all else. From one He eats the remnants of food; from another He slips away in jest. Says Tuka, this is Ananta, the Infinite One, simple and beyond all forms.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
From one man he eats with relish what is set before him. From another the same service tastes flat. Such is the way with the cowherd: it is the heart in it that he loves. From one he eats the food already tasted, the leftovers. From another he slips away and gives them the slip. Tuka says: he is simple, and his forms are many, without end.
What it means
Tukaram is naming what God actually responds to. From one person the cowherd gladly eats even leftover, half-eaten food; from another the most correct offering leaves him cold. The difference is not the gift but the love behind it, the heart he prizes above everything. With one he is intimate enough to eat their scraps; from another he simply slips away. The point is to examine our own offering: it is the inward devotion, not the outward show, that he meets, and this same God is at once utterly simple and endlessly many in his forms.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
More in this theme →