Gratitude to the saints, the child adorned
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आजिचें हें मज तुह्मीं कृपादान । दिलें संतजन मायबापीं ॥1॥
आलीं मुखावाटा अमृतवचनें । उत्तीर्ण तीं येणें नव्हे जन्में ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मीं उदार कृपाळ । शृंगारिलें बाळ कवतुकें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Today, O holy parents and saints, you have given me the gift of your grace. Nectar-words have flowed from your mouths, and I can never repay them in this lifetime. Says Tuka, you generous and compassionate ones have adorned this child with love.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Today you have given me this gift of grace. You holy ones, you mothers and fathers, have given it. Words of nectar came from your mouths. I cannot repay them in this lifetime. Tuka says: you are generous, you are kind; you have dressed up this child with love.
What it means
Tukaram thanks the saints as though they were his own parents, who have handed him grace this very day. What they gave was speech itself, words like nectar from their lips, and he knows a single lifetime cannot clear so large a debt. He sees their kindness as utterly free, asking nothing back. In the closing image he is a small child the elders have lovingly dressed and made beautiful, owing everything he wears to their care.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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