Nature of God, the one in every disguise
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धरियेलीं सोंगें । येणें अवघीं पांडुरंगें ॥1॥
तें हें ब्रह्म विटेवरी । उभें चंद्रभागे तिरीं ॥ध्रु.॥
अंतर व्यापी बाहे । धांडोिळतां कोठें नोहे ॥2॥
योगयागतपें । ज्याकारणें दानजपें ॥3॥
दिले नेदी जति । भोग सकळ ज्या होती ॥4॥
अवघी लीळा पाहे । तुका ह्मणे दासां साहे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Panduranga has assumed all these disguises. That very Brahman stands upon the brick on the bank of the Chandrabhaga. He pervades within and without; search as you may, there is nowhere he is not. It is for his sake that all yoga, sacrifice, penance, charity, and chanting exist. Whether he gives or withholds, all experiences of the world belong to him. Says Tuka, he watches the whole play and sustains his servants through it all.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Panduranga has taken on all these forms. That same Brahman stands on the brick on the bank of the Chandrabhaga. He fills the inside and the outside; search where you will, there is no place he is not. For his sake exist all yoga, sacrifice, penance, charity, and chanting. Whether he gives or withholds, every experience belongs to him. Tuka says: he watches the whole play and stands by his servants.
What it means
Tukaram identifies the small image at Pandhari with the boundless Brahman. The countless forms of the world are all Panduranga's disguises, and that very absolute is what stands on the brick by the river. He pervades within and without, with no corner left empty, and all the great religious acts, yoga, sacrifice, penance, gifts, the Name, exist only for his sake. Every gift and every withholding, every pleasure and pain, is his alone. The point lands at the end: he is not a distant spectator but watches the whole play and stays beside his servants through it.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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