Nature of God, the mother's tenderness
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय माता विसरे बाळा । कळवळा प्रीतीचा ॥1॥
आवडीनें गळां मिठी । घाली उठी बैसवी ॥ध्रु.॥
लावूं धांवे मुख स्तना । नये मना निराळें ॥2॥
भावंडाचें भातें दावी । आपुलें लावी त्यास जी ॥3॥
माझें थोडें त्याचें फार । उत्तर हें वाढवी ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे नारायणा । तुह्मी जाणां बुझावूं ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Does a mother ever forget her child? She is stirred by a deep tenderness of love. She embraces the child around the neck with affection, lifts it up and seats it upon her lap. She runs to press its mouth to her breast; she cannot bear to be separated. She shows the child its sibling's food and then gives it her own. She makes little of her own share and magnifies the child's portion. Says Tuka, O Narayana, you know just how to console us in the same way.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Does a mother ever forget her child? She is stirred by a deep tenderness of love. She throws her arms around its neck with delight, lifts it up, seats it on her lap. She runs to press its mouth to her breast; she cannot bear to be apart. She points to the other child's plate and gives this one her own share. She makes her own portion small and the child's portion large. Tuka says: O Narayana, you know just how to comfort us in the same way.
What it means
Tukaram paints the picture of a mother who can never forget her child, and lets every detail carry the weight of God's love. She embraces, lifts, nurses, and cannot bear separation; she even goes hungry, shrinking her own share so the child's plate is full. The whole portrait is an argument by tenderness: this is the kind of love God has. In the last line he turns the picture to address God directly, saying Narayana knows exactly how to soothe and console his devotees the way a mother soothes her child.
The Nature of God
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