Devotion, no real distance from the Mother
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माते लेकरांत भिन्न । नाहीं उत्तरांचा सीन ॥1॥
धाडींधाडीं वो भातुकें । रंजविल्याचें कौतुकें ॥ध्रु.॥
करुनि नवल । याचे बोलिलों ते बोल ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माते । पांडुरंगे कृपावंते॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Between a mother and her children there is no real separation. The words exchanged are never truly harsh. Send gifts and tokens again and again, for the delight of pleasing the child is the true joy. I spoke those words only to create wonder. Says Tuka, O mother Panduranga, O compassionate one, so it is.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Between a mother and her children there is no real separation. The words that pass between them are never truly harsh. Send the little gifts again and again; the delight is in pleasing the child. I spoke those words only to make a small wonder of it. Tuka says: so it is, O mother Panduranga, compassionate one.
What it means
Tukaram softens any harshness in his own earlier complaints by appealing to the bond of mother and child. Between them there is no real distance, and even sharp words carry no real sting, because the love underneath cannot be broken. He pictures God as a mother who keeps sending small gifts and tokens, delighting simply in pleasing the child. Then he confesses that his own pointed words to God were said only to stir a little wonder and play, not in earnest grievance. He closes by naming Panduranga as the compassionate mother, settling the whole exchange back into tenderness.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →