Confident plea, the record of mercy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कोण साक्षीविण । केलें उद्धारा भजन ॥1॥
ऐसें सांगा जी दातारा । माझी भक्ति परंपरा ॥ध्रु.॥
कोणें नाहीं केली आळी । ब्रह्मज्ञानाहुनि वेगळी ॥2॥
कोणाचें तों कोड । नाहीं पुरविला लाड ॥3॥
कोणाच्या उद्धारा । केला विलंब माघारा॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे भिन्न । कांहो बोले साक्षीविण ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Tell me, O generous Lord, who has ever been delivered through devotion without a witness? What is the lineage of my devotion? Who has ever been refused a prayer that was distinct from the knowledge of Brahman? Whose desire have You left unfulfilled? Whose salvation have You ever delayed or turned back? Says Tuka, why would anyone speak of separation without evidence?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Who was ever lifted up by devotion without a witness to it? Tell me this, O giver: what is the lineage of my devotion? Who ever made a plea, set apart from the knowledge of Brahman, and was refused? Whose longing did You leave unsatisfied? Whose rescue did You ever delay or turn back? Tuka says: why would anyone, without proof, speak of being kept separate from You?
What it means
Tukaram is pressing God with God's own track record, almost like a case argued before the giver. He asks for the witnesses and the lineage of devotion, the long line of those lifted up before him, and then runs through the evidence as questions that answer themselves. Has any devotee's plea, made simply in love and apart from the dry knowledge of Brahman, ever been refused? Has any longing gone unmet, any rescue been delayed? The final line turns the doubt back on the doubter: with this whole record standing, no one has grounds to claim God keeps them at a distance.
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