God who clings to the devotee
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देव बासर देव बासर । असे निरंतर जेथें तेथें ॥1॥
देव खोळंबा देव खोळंबा । मज झळंबा म्हूण कोंडी ॥ध्रु.॥
देव लागट देव लागट । लाविलिया चट जीवीं जडे ॥2॥
देव बावळा देव बावळा । भावें जवळा लुडबुडी ॥3॥
देव न व्हावा देव न व्हावा। तुका ह्मणे गोवा करी कामीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
God is ever present, present everywhere at all times. God holds me close, confining me so I do not stray. God is clinging; once attached, He sticks fast within. God is simple; with love He tumbles close to the devotee. Says Tuka, one should not wish to be God, for He entangles Himself in the work of His devotees.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God is everywhere, God is everywhere; He is there without break, wherever you look. God is a hold-up, God is a hold-up; He pens me in so I do not stray. God is sticky, God is sticky; once He fixes on, He sets fast inside the heart. God is a simpleton, God is a simpleton; with love He comes tumbling close. One should not become God, one should not become God. Tuka says: He tangles Himself up in His devotees' affairs.
What it means
Tukaram keeps teasing God with humble, almost comic names, and each one hides a tenderness. God is everywhere at all times; He is the obstacle that hems the devotee in so he cannot wander off; once He attaches to a heart He sticks there and will not be shaken loose. He is a guileless simpleton who comes bumbling close out of sheer love. The closing line is the joke and the truth together: do not wish to be God, because being God means getting hopelessly entangled in the troubles of those who love Him. Tukaram is praising a God who chooses to be bound by love rather than to stay free and aloof.
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