Devotion, the God who never stops taking
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मविलें मविती । नेणों रासी पडिल्या किती ॥1॥
परि तूं धाला चि न धासी । आलें उभाउभीं घेसी ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघ्यां अवघा काळ । वाटा पाहाती सकळ ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं । अराणूक तुज कांहीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You have been counting and measuring endlessly; I do not know how many heaps have piled up. Yet You are never satisfied; You keep taking whatever comes before You. All people at all times watch and wait for their share. Says Tuka, You never rest even for a moment.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You keep measuring and measuring; I cannot tell how many heaps have piled up. Yet you are never full, never satisfied; whatever comes before you, you take it standing. At every hour, everyone is watching, waiting for their share. Tuka says: you never get a moment's rest.
What it means
Tukaram pictures God as a tireless merchant at his weighing, taking in heap upon heap and never satisfied. Everything that comes is gathered up, and still the hunger does not end. Meanwhile the crowd of devotees stands at all hours, watching the road, waiting for what they are owed. The complaint is double: God hoards endlessly, and in doing so he never even rests. Behind the scolding is the longing of someone who feels kept waiting at the door of an inexhaustible giver who has not yet given.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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