The child's hurt, God consoles the lowly
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अवघियां दिला गोर । मजकरे पाहीना ॥१॥
फुंदे गोपाळ डोळे चोळी । ढुंगा थापली हाणे तोंडा ॥ध्रु.॥
आवडती थोर मोटे । मी रे पोरटें दैन्यवाणे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जाणों भाव । जीविंचा देव बुझावी ॥३॥
मृदंग पाटया - अभंग
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He gave sweets to everyone but did not even look my way. The cowherd boy sulks, rubbing his eyes, slapping his thigh, and hitting his own face in protest. He loves only the big and important ones; I am just a poor little child. Says Tuka, God knows the heart's true feeling and gently consoles the one who is distressed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He gave sweets to everyone but would not even look my way. The cowherd boy sulks, rubs his eyes, slaps his thigh, beats his own face in protest. He loves only the big and important ones. I am just a poor little child. Tuka says: God knows the true feeling of the heart, and he gently consoles the one who is hurt.
What it means
Tukaram stages the ache of the small and overlooked. A child watches God hand out sweets to everyone else and pass him by, and breaks down in furious tears, certain he is too lowly to be loved, that only the great and important matter. The complaint is real and Tukaram does not scold it. The resolution is in the last line. God is not moved by who is big or important; he reads the heart's true feeling. So it is exactly the distressed, slighted one whom he turns to and consoles. The lowly self that fears it counts for nothing is the one God comes to comfort.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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