Nature of God, waves on one sea
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुज मज ऐसी परी । जैसे तरंग सागरीं ॥1॥
दोहींमाजी एक जाणा । विठ्ठल पंढरीचा राणा ॥ध्रु.॥
देव भक्त ऐसी बोली । जंव भ्रांति नाहीं गेली ॥2॥
तंतु पट जेवीं एक । तैसा विश्वेंसीं व्यापक ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You and I are like waves upon the ocean. Know that within both there is only one: Vitthal, the King of Pandhari. The talk of God and devotee being separate lasts only as long as delusion remains. As thread and cloth are one, so is He pervading the entire universe.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You and I are like waves on the ocean. Know that within both there is only one: Vitthal, the King of Pandhari. The talk of God and devotee being two lasts only as long as the delusion has not gone. As thread and cloth are one, so he spreads through the whole universe.
What it means
Tukaram states the nondual heart of his faith. He and God look like two, the way separate waves rise on the sea, but in both there is a single reality: Vitthal of Pandhari. The sense of God and devotee being apart is real only while delusion lasts; when that clears, the twoness dissolves. He gives the weaver's image to finish: cloth is nothing but its thread arranged, and just so the one God is woven through the entire universe, never standing outside it.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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