Nature of God, no patience with deniers
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ह्मणे विठ्ठल ब्रह्म नव्हे । त्याचे बोल नाइकावे ॥1॥
मग तो हो का कोणी एक । आदि करोनि ब्रह्मादिक ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं विठ्ठल जया ठावा । तो ही डोळां न पाहावा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं। त्याची भीड मज कांहीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Do not listen to one who says Vitthal is not Brahman. Let such a person be anyone at all, even Brahma or the other gods. One who does not know the place of Vitthal should not even be looked upon. Says Tuka, I have no obligation whatsoever to such a person.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Whoever says Vitthal is not Brahman, do not listen to his words. Let him be anyone at all, even Brahma, even the high gods. The one who does not know what Vitthal is, do not even set eyes on him. Tuka says: I owe such a person no deference at all.
What it means
This is Tukaram drawing a hard line around his faith. To deny that Vitthal is the supreme reality is, for him, the one error he will not hear out, no matter how exalted the speaker, even one of the gods. He goes further: a person who has no knowledge of Vitthal is not even worth looking at. The sharpness is aimed at the denial, not at any soul's worth; he is refusing the social pressure to be polite about what he holds to be the whole of the truth, and declaring that no rank earns his deference where Vitthal is dismissed.
The Nature of God
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