Faith, God's own reputation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुझा दास मज ह्मणती अंकित । अवघे सकिळक लहान थोर ॥1॥
हें चि आतां लागे करावें जतन । तुझें थोरपण तुज देवा ॥ध्रु.॥
होउनी निर्भर राहिलों नििंश्चतें । पावनपतित नाम तुझें ॥2॥
करितां तुज होय डोंगराची राई । न लगतां कांहीं पात्या पातें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज काय ते आशंका । तारितां मशका मज दीना ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
All beings, great and small, call me Your servant and claim me as Your own. Now, O Lord, I must guard Your greatness for Your sake alone. Resting assured, I have become fearless, for Your name is the purifier of the fallen. For You, even a mountain becomes a grain of sand, and nothing is too difficult. Says Tuka, what hesitation can You have in saving a wretched fly like me?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Your servant: that is what they call me, your bondsman, everyone, small and great. So now this must be guarded: your greatness is yours to keep, O God. I have grown carefree and stay without worry, for your name is the savior of the fallen. For you a mountain becomes a grain of sand; it costs you no more than one leaf touching another. Tuka says: what doubt can you have, when saving a poor little gnat like me is nothing to you?
What it means
Tukaram leans the whole weight of his rescue onto God's reputation rather than his own merit. Everyone, high and low, already calls him God's servant, so his fate is now bound up with God's name; if the servant is lost, it is the Lord's greatness that is stained, and that honor is God's own to protect. Resting on the name that is famous for saving the fallen, he lets all anxiety go. He reminds the Lord that nothing is hard for him, a mountain shrinks to a grain of sand at his will, so there can be no real hesitation in lifting up someone as small and helpless as a gnat.
Faith and Trust
The boldness of faith, steadfastness, and the security of trusting in God.
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