Nature of God, served through His own
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माय वनीं धाल्या धाये । गर्भ आंवतणें न पाहें॥1॥
तैसें पूजितां वैष्णव । सुखें संतोषतो देव ॥ध्रु.॥
पुत्राच्या विजयें । पिता सुखातें जाये ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे अमृतसििद्ध । हरे क्षुधा आणि व्याधि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When a mother sees her child well-fed, she is content and does not look for an invitation to the feast. In the same way, when a Vaishnava is honored, God Himself is silently pleased. A father shares in the joy of his son's victory. Says Tuka, this is the nectar of attainment. It quenches both hunger and disease.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When a mother sees her child has eaten and is full, she herself is satisfied. She does not look for a feast of her own. In the same way, when a Vaishnava is honored, God is gladly pleased. A father takes joy in his son's victory. Tuka says: this is the nectar that is won. It takes away hunger, and it takes away disease.
What it means
Tukaram says how God receives worship: not directly, but through the joy of His devotees. He uses the homeliest images, a mother filled by watching her child eat, a father glad in his son's win, to show that God's contentment is bound up with the wellbeing of the Vaishnavas. So to honor God's people is to please God Himself. He calls this the nectar of attainment, and claims it heals both hunger and sickness, naming a fruit that is bodily as well as spiritual. The teaching lands as a redirection: serve the holy ones, and the service reaches God.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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