Grace, the mother's love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय नाहीं माता गौरवीत बाळा । काय नाहीं लळा पाळीत ते ॥1॥
काय नाहीं त्याची करीत ते सेवा । काय नाहीं जीवा गोमटें तें ॥ध्रु.॥
अमंगळपणें कांटाळा न धरी । उचलोनि करीं कंठीं लावी ॥2॥
लेववी आपुले अंगें अळंकार । संतोषाये फार देखोनियां ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे स्तुति योग्य नाहीं परी । तुह्मां लाज थोरी अंकिताची ॥4॥
माझिया मीपणावर पडों पाषाण । जळो हें भूषण नाम माझें ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Does not a mother cherish her child? Does she not tenderly indulge its every whim? Does she not serve the child's needs? Is not everything she does for the child's good? She feels no disgust at its uncleanliness; she lifts it up and holds it to her bosom. She adorns it with ornaments from her own body and rejoices upon seeing it. Says Tuka, I am unworthy of praise, yet you elders feel the dignity of caring for your own. Let a stone fall upon my self-importance; let this name of mine burn away.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Does a mother not cherish her child? Does she not tend its every want? Does she not do it service? Is anything she does not for its good? She feels no disgust at its filth; she lifts it in her arms and holds it to her throat. She dresses it in ornaments from her own body, and is filled with joy to see it. Tuka says: I am not fit to be praised, but the great honor of caring for your own is yours. Let a stone fall on my I-ness; let this name of mine burn away.
What it means
Tukaram explains God's care for the unworthy by holding up the plainest picture of love there is: a mother with her infant. She is not repelled by the child's dirt, she serves it, dresses it, lifts it to her body, and rejoices simply to look at it, and none of this depends on the child deserving it. So God's grace toward him is not earned; it is the dignity of caring for one's own. The poem ends turning on himself: let the self-importance be crushed under a stone, let his own name burn, since the love was never about him being worthy.
The Nature of God
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