Devotion, the fallen give God His name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जेणें तुज जालें रूप आणि नांव । पतित हें दैव तुझें आह्मी ॥1॥
नाहीं तरी तुज कोण हें पुसतें । निराकारी तेथें एकाएकी ॥ध्रु.॥
अंधारे दीपा आणियेली शोभा । माणिकासी प्रभा कोंदणासी ॥2॥
धन्वंतरी रोगें आणिला उजेडा । सुखा काय चाडा जाणावें तें ॥3॥
अमृतासी मोल विषाचिया गुणें । पितळें तरी सोनें उंच निंच ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी असोनिया जना । तुज देव पणा आणियेलें ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It is because of us, the fallen, that You received Your form and name; we are Your blessed fortune. Otherwise, who would have asked about You in the formless void, all alone? As darkness gives splendor to a lamp, and a setting gives beauty to a gem, so do we reveal Your glory. As disease brings the physician to light, and poison gives value to nectar, and base metal reveals the worth of gold. Says Tuka, though we are mere mortals, we have bestowed upon You Your godhood.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It is because of us, the fallen, that You got a form and a name. We are Your good fortune. Otherwise, who would have asked after You, alone there in the formless? Darkness gives the lamp its splendor. The setting gives the gem its shine. Disease brings the healer to light. Poison gives nectar its worth. Base metal shows what gold is worth, high against low. Tuka says: we are only mortals, yet we have brought You Your godhood.
What it means
Tukaram makes a daring claim: God needs the devotee in order to be God at all. In the pure formless there is no one to call upon Him, so it is the fallen, the sinners, who give the Lord a form and a name by crying out to Him. He piles up pairings to prove it, darkness and lamp, disease and physician, poison and nectar, base metal and gold, each one showing how a thing's worth appears only against its opposite. The point is not pride but the strange logic of grace: the very wretchedness of the worshippers is what calls divinity into the open. So the boldest line, that mere mortals have bestowed His godhood, is really a hymn to how completely God binds Himself to those who need Him.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →