God as laborer, devotion the greater
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देव मजुर देव मजुर । नाहीं उजुर सेवेपुढें ॥1॥
देव गांढएाळ देव गांढएाळ । देखोनियां बळ लपतसे ॥2॥
देव तर काई देव तर काई । तुका ह्मणे राई तरी मोटी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
God is a laborer, a laborer indeed; He makes no excuses when it comes to service. God is timid; seeing the strong, He hides Himself away. Says Tuka, God may be what He is, but the queen of devotion is truly great.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God is a laborer, God is a laborer; before service He makes no excuse. God is a coward, God is a coward; seeing strength, He hides Himself away. Is He really God, is He really God? Tuka says: yet the queen, devotion, is mighty.
What it means
This is the first of a string of short poems that tease God by naming Him in lowly, surprising terms. Here God is called a hired laborer who never shirks the work of serving His devotees, and a coward who shrinks from raw power. The teasing has a point: God lets Himself be small, duty-bound, even timid, when love calls. The closing line turns it around, that the true ruler is bhakti itself, devotion, which is great enough to bend God to such service. Tukaram exalts the path of love by showing how completely God submits to it.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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