Nature of God, differences held in his compassion
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
एकीं असे हेवा । एक अनावड जीवां ॥1॥
देवें केल्या भिन्न जाती । उत्तम कनिष्ठ मध्यस्ती ॥ध्रु.॥
प्रीतिसाटीं भेद। कोणी पूज्य कोणी निंद्य ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कळा । त्याचा जाणे हा कळवळा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Some feel envy, while others feel aversion. God has made different natures: the high, the low, and the middle. For the sake of love, distinctions exist; some are honored, and some are scorned. Says Tuka, only He who created this art knows its true compassion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In some there is envy; in others there is no liking at all. God has made the natures different: the high, the low, and the middle. For the sake of love these differences exist; one is honored, another is scorned. Tuka says: only the one who made this art knows the tenderness inside it.
What it means
Tukaram looks at the unequal world, its envy and dislike, its high and low and middling natures, and refuses to read it as cruelty or accident. He says God himself made these differences, and made them for the sake of love, so that honoring and scorning both have their place in a larger design. The point is not to defend the rankings but to humble our judgment of them. Only the maker of this art, he says, knows the compassion folded inside an order that looks unfair from where we stand.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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