God without lineage or caste
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देव निढळ देव निढळ । मूळ नाहीं डाळ परदेशी॥1॥
देव अकुळी देव अकुळी । भलते ठायीं सोयरीक ॥2॥
देव लिगाडएा देव लिगाडएा । तुका ह्मणे भाडएा दंभें ठकी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
God is without family or lineage; He has no roots and is a stranger everywhere. God is without caste; He makes kinship in any place He pleases. Says Tuka, God is a vagabond who cheats even the proud through pretense.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God is bare, God is bare; He has no root, no branch, a stranger everywhere. God is without caste, God is without caste; He makes kinship in any place He pleases. God is a clinging tangle, God is a clinging tangle. Tuka says: the rascal cheats even the proud with His pretense.
What it means
This short poem strips God of the very things people use to rank one another. He has no family tree, no roots or branches, belonging nowhere, a stranger in every place. He keeps no caste, so He freely makes kin of anyone He likes. The closing image calls Him a sticky tangle and a trickster who outwits even the proud through His disguises. The teaching under the teasing is that God will not be bound by birth or social standing; He attaches Himself wherever love is, and the self-important are the ones most easily caught off guard by Him.
The Nature of God
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