Devotion, you are no failing mother
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव्हेसी तूं लांसी । मायां आणिकां त्या ऐसी ॥1॥
जे हे वांयां जाती बोल । होती निर्फळ चि फोल ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हेसी दुबळी । कांहीं नाहीं तें जवळी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे खोटी । कांहीं नव्हेसी करंटी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You are not like those other mothers whose words come to nothing and bear no fruit. You are not poor, lacking for anything. Says Tuka, You are not false, and You are not miserly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You are not like those other mothers whose words come to nothing and bear no fruit. You are not poor, lacking for anything. Tuka says: You are not false, and You are not miserly.
What it means
Tukaram reassures himself by listing everything God is not, again under the figure of the mother. Unlike the failing mothers whose promises stay empty and bear no fruit, this Mother's word is reliable. She is not poor and does not run short of what her child needs. The closing line drives it home: she is neither false in her promises nor stingy in giving, so there is every reason to keep asking and trusting.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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