Devotion, the devotee greater than God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चवदा भुवनें जयाचिये पोटीं । तो चि आम्हीं कंठीं साठविला ॥१॥
काय एक उणें आमुचिये घरीं । वोळगती द्वारीं रिद्धिसिद्धी ॥ध्रु.॥
असुर जयानें घातले तोडरीं । तो आम्हांसि जोडी कर दोन्ही ॥२॥
रूप नाहीं रेखा जयासि आकार । आम्हीं तो साकार भक्तीं केला ॥३॥
अनंत ब्रम्हांडें जयाचिये अंगीं । समान तो मुंगी आम्हासाठीं ॥४॥
रिद्धिसिद्धी सुखें हाणितल्या लाता । तेथें या प्राकृता कोण मानी ॥५॥
तुका म्हणे आम्ही देवाहूनि बळी । जालों हे निराळी ठेवुनि आशा ॥६॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He who contains the fourteen worlds within his belly, that very one we have enshrined in our hearts. What could possibly be lacking in our home? Wealth and miraculous powers attend our door. He who shackled demons in anklets now joins his own two palms before us. He who has no form, no outline, no shape, we have made manifest through devotion. He in whose body rest countless universes becomes as small as an ant for our sake. Wealth and supernatural powers have been kicked away with joy; who then would honor these worldly trifles? Says Tuka, we have become mightier than God himself by setting aside all desire.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He who holds the fourteen worlds inside his belly, that very one we have stored in our throat. What is lacking in our home? Wealth and miraculous powers wait at our door. He who shackled demons in anklets now folds both his palms before us. He who has no form, no line, no shape, we have made him take form through devotion. He in whose body countless universes rest becomes small as an ant for our sake. Wealth and powers we have kicked away in joy; who here would honor such common trifles? Tuka says: we have become mightier than God himself, by setting our every desire aside.
What it means
Tukaram makes the startling claim that the devotee becomes greater than God. The logic is love's reversal: the One who contains all worlds is held in the devotee's throat, the formless is given a form by devotion, the infinite shrinks to ant-size out of love for His own. Because the devotee wants nothing, not wealth, not the siddhis that line up at the door, he has nothing left to be ruled by, and so he stands above even the Lord. The boast is not arrogance but the math of surrender: the one who has emptied himself of desire holds the only real power. Desirelessness, not might, is what makes him mightier than God.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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