Nature of God, the One who set it in motion
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आमुचे ठाउके तुह्मां गर्भवास । बिळवंत दोष केले भोग ॥1॥
काय हा सांगावा नसतां नवलावो । मैंदपणें भाव भुलवणेचा ॥ध्रु.॥
एका पळवूनि एका पाठी लावा । कवतुक देवा पाहावया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ज्याणें असें चेतविलें । त्याच्यानें उगळें कैसें नव्हे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You know our sufferings in the womb; our powerful sins have caused the experiences we endure. Why speak of this as though it were some marvel? With trickery You create bewilderment. You set one running and another chasing, just to watch the spectacle, O God. Says Tuka, the One who set all this in motion surely has the power to undo it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You know our time in the womb; our heavy sins brought on the suffering we bear. Why tell it as if it were some wonder? With your trickery you bewilder our hearts. You set one running and another chasing behind, just to watch the show, O God. Tuka says: the One who lit all this can surely put it out.
What it means
Tukaram lays the whole machinery of suffering at God's own feet. The pain of birth and the weight of sin are real, he grants, but they unfold inside a bewilderment that God himself spreads, a trickery that no one should mistake for a marvel. He pictures God as a watcher setting one creature to flee and another to chase, staging the spectacle for his own amusement. The poem's quiet demand is its last line: if you kindled this fire, you have the power to quench it. It hands responsibility back to the One who started the game, and asks him to end it.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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