Praise, the God who asks no faults
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुजऐसा कोणी न देखें उदार । अभयदानशूर पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
शरण येती त्यांचे न विचारिसी दोष । न मागतां त्यांस अढळ देसी ॥ध्रु.॥
धांवसी आडणी ऐकोनियां धांवा । कइवारें देवा भक्तांचिया ॥2॥
दोष त्यांचे जाळी कल्पकोटिवरी । नामासाटीं हरि आपुलिया ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज वाणूं कैशा परी । एक मुख हरी आयुष्य थोडें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I see no one as generous as You, O Panduranga, champion of fearlessness. You do not examine the faults of those who come to You for refuge; without their asking, You grant them the imperishable. Hearing a devotee's cry, You rush to their aid, O God, moved by love for Your devotees. For the sake of Your own name, You burn away their sins accumulated over millions of ages. Says Tuka, how can I praise You adequately with one mouth and a short life, O Hari?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I see no one as generous as You, O Panduranga, hero of fearlessness. You do not weigh the faults of those who come to You for refuge; without their even asking, You give them what never perishes. Hearing a cry of distress, You come running, O God, out of love for Your devotees. For the sake of Your own name, You burn away sins piled up over millions of ages. Tuka says: how can I praise You enough, O Hari, with one mouth and so short a life?
What it means
Tukaram praises God as generosity itself, the one who gives fearlessness. The heart of the praise is what God does not do: He does not examine the sins of those who take refuge in Him, and He gives the imperishable to people who have not even asked. He comes running at a cry of distress, moved by love for His own, and burns away ages of accumulated sin, doing it for the sake of His own name as the saver of those who turn to Him. The closing line is the helplessness of true praise: with only one mouth and a short life, Tukaram cannot say enough.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
More in this theme →