Nondual play, God hides in His own world
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
निरांजनीं एकटवाणें । संग नेणें दुसरा ॥1॥
पाहा चाळविलें कैसें । लावुनि पिसें गोवळें ॥ध्रु.॥
लपलें अंगें अंग । दिला संग होता तो ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नव्हतें ठावें । जालें भावें वाटोळें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the formless solitude, He was utterly alone, knowing no second companion. See how He beguiled Himself, creating the illusion of the cowherd world. He hid within forms, disguising Himself as His own company. Says Tuka, it was not known before; through devotion the whole circle came into being.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the formless solitude he was alone. He knew no second companion. See how he tricked himself. He set the cowherd world spinning like a madness. He hid form inside form. The company he kept, he gave himself. Tuka says: none of this was there before. Through love the whole circle came to be.
What it means
Tukaram looks straight at the deepest mystery and states it without flinching. Before anything, there was only the formless One, utterly alone, with no second beside it. Then, in his telling, God beguiles himself: he sets the whole cowherd world turning and hides as form inside form, so the one company there is, he is giving to himself. This is the nondual claim left unspoken in plainer bhakti, that the lover, the beloved, and the world between them are all the one God playing. The closing line names what set it in motion: nothing was there before, and the entire circle of creation came into being through love.
The Nature of God
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