God as mother, overflowing with love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सरलें आतां नाहीं । न ह्मणे वेळकाळ कांहीं ॥1॥
विठ्ठल कृपाळु माउली । सदा प्रेमें पान्हायेली ॥ध्रु.॥
सीण न विचारी भाग । नव्हे निष्ठ नाहीं राग ॥2॥
भेदाभेद नाहीं । तुका ह्मणे तिच्याठायीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Everything is settled now; He does not regard time or occasion. Vitthal is a compassionate mother, ever overflowing with the milk of love. She does not consider weariness or fatigue; she is never harsh, never angry. Says Tuka, in her there is no trace of any distinction.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Everything is settled now. He does not ask the time or the occasion. Vitthal is a tender mother, always overflowing with the milk of love. She does not count my weariness or my tiredness. She is never harsh. She holds no anger. Tuka says: in her there is no difference at all.
What it means
Tukaram describes God not as a judge but as a nursing mother whose love does not wait for the right moment. He calls Vitthal a mother whose milk of love is always flowing, so the giving never depends on the devotee deserving it or arriving on a fixed day. Such a mother does not weigh how tired or unworthy the child is, and she carries no harshness and no anger. The poem ends by naming the deepest point: in her there is no distinction at all, no sorting of high from low or worthy from unworthy.
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