Nature of God, the doting protector
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कृपावंता दुजें नाहीं तुह्मां पोटीं । लाडें बोलें गोठी सुख मातें ॥1॥
घेउनि भातुकें लागसील पाठी । लाविसील ओंठीं ब्रह्मरस ॥ध्रु.॥
आपुलिये पांख घालिसी पाखर । उदार मजवर कृपाळू तूं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मांकारणें गोविंदा । वागविसी गदा सुदर्शन ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O merciful One, You hold no guile within You. Lovingly You speak sweet stories to comfort me. You will follow me with gifts, pressing the nectar of divine wisdom to my lips. You spread the shelter of Your wings over me; You are generous and compassionate toward me. Says Tuka, for our sake, O Govinda, You carry the mace and the Sudarshana discus.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Merciful one, there is no second thing inside you, no guile; you speak fond words and stories, and they comfort me. You come after me with treats and press the nectar of Brahman to my lips. You spread your own wing over me as shelter; you are generous to me, full of pity. Tuka says: for our sake, Govinda, you carry the mace and the Sudarshana discus.
What it means
Tukaram pictures God as a parent so wholly loving that nothing else, no duplicity, lives inside him. This God coaxes the devotee with sweet talk and treats, and then, mid-play, slips the highest gift, the nectar of Brahman, the taste of the absolute, onto his lips. He shelters under his own wing like a bird over its young, generous and tender. The last line names the protector's other face: the very God who dotes also bears mace and discus, his weapons, and Tukaram insists he wields them for our sake, so the same love that feeds also defends.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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