The saints as mother, love past judging
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लेंकरा लेववी माता अळंकार । नाहीं अंतपार आवडीसी॥1॥
कृपेचें पोसणें तुमचें मी दीन । आजि संतजन मायबाप ॥ध्रु.॥
आरुषा उत्तरीं संतोषे माउली । कवळूनि घाली हृदयात ॥2॥
पोटा आलें त्याचे नेणे गुणदोष । कल्याण चि असे असावें हें ॥3॥
मनाची ते चाली मोहाचिये सोई । ओघें गंगा काई परतों जाणे ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे कोठें उदार मेघां शक्ति । माझी तृषा किती चातकाची ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A mother adorns her child with ornaments; her love knows no end. I am nourished by your grace; today the company of saints is my mother and father. Even at babbling words the mother is delighted; she clasps the child to her heart. She does not judge the merits or faults of what her womb has borne; she wishes only for its welfare. The course of the heart flows in the direction of love, just as the Ganga does not know how to turn back. Says Tuka, how can the thirst of the chataka bird compare to the generous might of the rain clouds?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A mother dresses her child in ornaments; her love has no end, no edge. I am a poor child fed by your grace; today the saints are my mother and father. Even at babbling, broken words the mother is glad; she gathers the child to her heart. She does not weigh the merits or faults of what her own womb bore; she wants only its good. The heart's course runs along the channel of love, the way the Ganga does not know how to turn back. Tuka says: how generous is the might of the rain clouds; how small is my thirst, a chataka bird's thirst.
What it means
Tukaram makes the saints into a mother to say how their love works. A mother decks her child and folds it to her chest, delighted even by its broken babble, and never sits in judgment on the child her own body bore; she simply wills its welfare. He is that child, kept alive by their grace, with the saints as both father and mother. Love, once it starts, only flows forward, like the Ganga that cannot reverse its current. He closes with a humble proportion: their generosity is the whole sky of rain clouds, while his need is only the chataka's small thirst for a drop, so there is no fear that the gift will fall short.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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