God loves the simple-hearted
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तयासी नेणतीं बहु आवडती । होय जयां चित्तीं एक भाव ॥1॥
उपमन्यु धुरु हें काय जाणती । प्रल्हादाच्या चित्तीं नारायण ॥ध्रु.॥
कोळें भिल्लें पशु श्वापदें अपारें । कृपेच्या सागरें तारियेलीं ॥2॥
काय तें गोपाळें चांगलीं शाहाणीं । तयां चक्रपाणी जेवी सवें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे भोळा भाविक हा देव । आह्मी त्याचे पाव धरूनी ठेलों ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He greatly loves the innocent; single-pointed devotion delights Him most. What did Upamanya or Dhruva really know? Narayana dwelt in Prahlada's simple heart. Tribals, hunters, animals, and creatures beyond count have been saved by that ocean of mercy. Were the cowherds wise or learned? Yet Krishna ate with them as an equal. Says Tuka, this God is innocent and devoted; we have grasped His feet and will not let go.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He loves the unknowing very much; one whose heart holds a single faith delights him. What did Upamanya or Dhruva really know? Yet Narayana lived in Prahlada's simple heart. Tribals, hunters, animals, and countless wild creatures were carried across by that ocean of mercy. Were the cowherds clever or learned? Yet Krishna ate beside them as one of them. Tuka says: this God is simple and full of faith. We have taken hold of his feet and will not let go.
What it means
Tukaram answers the assumption that God is won by knowledge by listing those he actually saved. Child devotees, forest hunters, and animals beyond counting were ferried across by mercy alone; the cowherds were neither scholars nor sages, yet Krishna sat and ate among them as an equal. What these have in common is not learning but single, simple faith, the one thing that delights Narayana most. The radical point is that God himself is bhola, drawn to the unsophisticated heart. So Tukaram stakes everything on that: he grips the feet and refuses to be pried loose.
The Nature of God
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