The unknowable God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न कळसी ज्ञाना न कळसी ध्याना । न कळेसी दर्शना धुंडािळतां ॥1॥
न कळेसी आगमा न कळेसी निगमा । न बोलवे सीमा वेदां पार ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुझा नाहीं अंतपार । ह्मणोनि विचार पडिला मज ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You cannot be known through knowledge, nor through meditation, nor by seeking Your vision through searching. You cannot be known through scripture or sacred texts. The Vedas themselves cannot express Your boundary. Says Tuka, there is no end or limit to You, and therefore I am lost in thought.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You cannot be known by knowledge, nor by meditation, nor found by searching for Your sight. You cannot be known through the Agamas, nor through the Nigamas. The Vedas cannot speak Your limit, cannot reach Your far shore. Tuka says: there is no end or bound to You, and so I am left lost in thought.
What it means
Tukaram piles up every recognized means of reaching God, knowledge, meditation, the longing for vision, the Agama and Nigama scriptures, even the Vedas, and reports that each one falls short. The point is not that these paths are worthless but that God exceeds them all; the Vedas themselves cannot state His limit or reach His farther shore. He names the stake in the last line: because there is simply no end or boundary to God to grasp, the seeker is left standing in wonder. That bafflement is not failure but the honest condition of a mind before the infinite.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
More in this theme →