Nature of God, the keeper of His own word
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धर्म रक्षावया अवतार घेशी । आपुल्या पािळसी भक्तजना ॥1॥
अंबॠषीसाटीं जन्म सोसियेलें । दुष्ट निदानिळले किती एक ॥ध्रु.॥
धन्य तुज कृपासिंधु ह्मणतील । आपुला तूं बोल साच करीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज वणिनती पुराणें । होय नारायणें दयासिंधु ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
To protect righteousness You take incarnation after incarnation. You guard Your own devoted people. For the sake of Ambarisha You endured birth, and You vanquished countless wicked ones. Blessed are You, for they call You an ocean of grace. Fulfill Your own word and make it true. Says Tuka, the Puranas describe You in full. Be now, O Narayana, that very ocean of mercy.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To protect dharma You take birth again and again. You guard Your own devoted people. For the sake of Ambarisha You bore birth, and how many wicked ones You struck down. Blessed are You, they say, ocean of grace. Make Your own word come true. Tuka says: the Puranas describe You. Be now, Narayana, that ocean of mercy.
What it means
Tukaram praises God's record of incarnation and then holds Him to it. The pattern is set: He descends in age after age to guard dharma and His devotees, He suffered birth for Ambarisha's sake, He cut down the wicked. From that history Tukaram presses a claim, you are called the ocean of grace, so make your own word true. The closing is half praise and half petition: the Puranas have already described you this way, now actually be that ocean of mercy for me.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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