God's presence, where the kirtan is
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भक्तांची सांकडीं स्वयें सोसी देव । त्यांपाशीं केशव सर्वकाळ ॥1॥
जये ठायीं कीर्तन वैष्णव करिती । तेथें हा श्रीपति उभा असे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देव सर्वाठायीं जाला । भरुनी उरला पांडुरंग ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
God Himself bears the hardships of His devotees; Keshava is with them at all times. Wherever the Vaishnavas hold kirtan, there Shripati stands present. Says Tuka, God has become all-pervading. Panduranga fills and overflows everything.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God himself bears the hardships of his devotees; Keshava is with them at all times. Wherever the Vaishnavas hold kirtan, there Shripati stands present. Tuka says: God has become every place. Panduranga has filled it all, and still he overflows.
What it means
Tukaram says God does not watch his devotees' troubles from a distance; he takes their burdens onto himself and stays beside them always. The poem locates that presence concretely: wherever singers gather to chant his name, Shripati is standing right there. From this it opens out to the largest claim, that Panduranga has become every place, filling all of it and still spilling beyond it. Nearness to the devotee and the all-pervading fullness of God are named as one and the same thing.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
More in this theme →