Nature of God, near yet missed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देव आहे सुकाळ देशीं । अभाग्यासी दुभिनक्षा ॥1॥
नेणती हा करूं सांटा । भरले फांटा आडरानें ॥ध्रु.॥
वसवूनि असे घर । माग दूर घातला ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मन मुरे । मग जें उरे तें चि तूं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
God is found in the land of plenty; for the unfortunate, there is only famine. They do not know how to store what they have and wander lost in wastelands. He has made His home right here, yet the path to reach Him has been cast far away. Says Tuka, when the mind dissolves, whatever remains is God Himself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God is here in a land of plenty. For the unlucky it is a famine. They do not know how to gather the store, so they fill up the side-paths and the wastelands. He has made his home right here, yet they have thrown the road to him far away. Tuka says: when the mind dissolves, then whatever is left, that itself is you.
What it means
Tukaram is explaining how God can be everywhere and still missed. There is a feast of grace at hand, a land of plenty, but the unfortunate live in famine inside it because they do not know how to take in what is offered, so they wander off into side-tracks and barren ground. God has set his home right where they stand; it is they who have flung the path to him far away. The closing turn names the way back: when the mind dissolves, what remains is God himself, so the distance was never in God but in the busy, scattered mind.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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