God as mother, come and claim the love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आळवितां बाळें । मातेतें सुख आगळें ॥1॥
द्यावें आवडी भातुकें । पाहे निवे कवतुकें ॥ध्रु.॥
लेववूनि अळंकार । दृष्टी करावी सादर ॥2॥
आपुलिये पदीं । बैसवूनि कोडें वंदी ॥3॥
नेदी लागों दिठी । उचलोनि लावी कंठीं ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे लाभा । वारी घ्या वो पद्मनाभा ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When a child cries out, the mother feels a joy beyond compare. She gives the child its favorite toys and watches with delight. She adorns it with ornaments and gazes at it lovingly. She seats the child upon her own throne and bows before it with tender affection. She will not let the evil eye touch it, lifting the child to her breast. Says Tuka, come, claim the gift; come to Padmanabha.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the child cries out, the mother feels a joy beyond all measure. She gives it the treats it loves and watches it, delighted. She dresses it in ornaments and gazes at it tenderly. She seats it on her own lap and fondly bows to it. She will not let the evil eye fall on it; she lifts it up and holds it to her throat. Tuka says: come, take the gain; come to Padmanabha.
What it means
Tukaram pictures God as a mother and the devotee as her small child, to overturn how we imagine who wants whom. It is not the child working to win the mother; the mother's whole joy is the child, and she pours out treats, ornaments, gazing, a seat on her own lap, even a bow of love before it. She guards it from the evil eye and gathers it to her breast, doing all the seeking herself. The closing call lands the point as an invitation: the love is already waiting, the gain is already there, so simply come to Padmanabha. The devotee has only to cry out like the child and let himself be held.
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