Metaphor, the milch cow of grace
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आम्हां घरीं एक गाय दुभता हे । पान्हा न समाये त्रिभुवनीं ॥१॥
वान ते सांवळी नांव ते श्रीधरा । चरे वसुंधरा चौदा भुवनें ॥ध्रु.॥
वत्स नाहीं माय भलत्या सवें जाय । कुर्वाळी तो लाहे भावभरणा ॥२॥
चहूं धारीं क्षीर वोळली अमुप । धाले सनकादिक सिद्ध मुनी ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे माझी भूक तेथें काय । जोगाविते माय तिन्ही लोकां ॥४॥
कांडण - अभंग २
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In our house there is one milch cow whose yield overflows beyond the three worlds. Her hide is dark; her name is Shridhara. She grazes across all fourteen realms. She has no calf, yet she follows anyone at all; whoever caresses her with devotion receives her nourishing abundance. From her four teats flows immeasurable milk that has satisfied Sanaka and all the sages and perfected beings. Says Tuka, what is my hunger before her? This mother cow nourishes all three worlds.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In our house there is a single milch cow whose flow of milk cannot be contained by the three worlds. Her color is dark, and her name is Shridhara; she grazes across all fourteen realms. She has no calf of her own, yet she follows anyone at all, and whoever strokes her with devotion receives her overflowing nourishment. From her four teats pours immeasurable milk that has fed Sanaka and all the sages and perfected ones. Tuka says: what is my small hunger before her? This mother nourishes all three worlds.
What it means
A riddling poem of pure abundance. The dark milch cow whose milk overflows the worlds is God himself, named Shridhara, the dark Krishna; she belongs to no one and follows anyone who strokes her with love, giving without limit. The four teats suggest the inexhaustible sources of grace, enough to have fed the greatest sages. Against such overflow, Tukaram says, his own hunger is nothing; the mother who nourishes all three worlds will hardly be troubled to feed one more. The image turns God from a distant lord into a homely, generous mother-cow in the devotee's own yard, whose only condition is a loving touch.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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