The mother's heart, the saints' compassion
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जिचें पीडे बाळ । प्राण तयेचा विकळ ॥1॥
ऐसा मातेचा स्वभाव । सूत्र दोरी एक जीव ॥ध्रु.॥
सुखाची विश्रांती । उमटे मातेचिये चित्तीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे संत । तुह्मी बहु कृपावंत ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When her child suffers, the mother's very life is shaken. Such is a mother's nature; her life is strung on the same thread as the child's. When the child rests happily, that peace is reflected in the mother's chitta. Says Tuka, O saints, you are just as boundlessly compassionate.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When her child is in pain, the mother's own life trembles. This is a mother's nature. Her life and the child's are strung on one thread. When the child rests in comfort, that peace shows up in the mother's heart. Tuka says: O saints, you are just as full of mercy.
What it means
Tukaram uses the bond between mother and child to say what the saints are to him. A mother's life is strung on the same thread as her child's: the child's pain shakes her, the child's ease settles into her heart, all without calculation. He names this as her very nature, not a choice she weighs. Then he turns it on the saints: their compassion for him runs the same way, feeling his suffering and his peace as their own.
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