Bewilderment, the unmeasurable God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय तुज कैसें जाणवेल देवा । आणावें अनुभवा कैशा परी ॥1॥
सगुण निर्गुण थोर कीं लहान । न कळे अनुमान मज तुझा ॥ध्रु.॥
कोण तो निर्धार करूं हा विचार । भवसिंधु पार तरावया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कैसे पाय आतुडती । न पडे श्रीपती वर्म ठावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How shall I come to know You, O Lord? In what manner shall I bring You into experience? Are You with form or without, great or small? I cannot fathom any measure of You. What resolve, what deliberation should I make to cross this ocean of existence? Says Tuka, how shall I reach Your feet, O Lord? The secret remains unknown.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How can I ever know you, O Lord? In what way can I bring you into experience? Are you with form or without form, great or small? I cannot fathom any measure of you. What firm resolve, what plan should I make, to cross this ocean of worldly existence? Tuka says: how can I reach your feet, O Lord of Lakshmi? The secret stays hidden from me.
What it means
Tukaram lays out his helplessness as a string of honest questions. He wants to know God and to actually experience God, but every category he reaches for breaks in his hands: form or formless, great or small, no measure fits. The stakes are not abstract, because he needs a method to cross the ocean of birth and death, and he has none. The poem ends without an answer on purpose: the secret of reaching God's feet is not something the seeker can figure out, and admitting that is itself the prayer.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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