Nature of God, formless yet coming
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां तुज मज नाहीं दुजेपण । दाखवीं चरण पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
तुज रूप रेखा नाम गुण नाहीं । एक स्थान पाहीं गांव सिंव ॥ध्रु.॥
नावडे संगाति तुजा दुजयाची । आपुल्या भक्तांची प्रीति तुह्मां ॥2॥
परि आह्मांसाटीं होसील सगुण । स्तंभासी फोडून जयापरि ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणें तैसें तुज काय उणें । देई दरुषण चरणांचें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now there is no separation between You and me; show me Your feet, O Panduranga. You have no form, no outline, no name, no quality, no fixed place or boundary. You care not for the company of any other, for Your love is only for Your own devotees. Yet for our sake You take on a visible form, as You once burst through the pillar for Prahlada. Says Tuka, what is lacking in You? Grant me the sight of Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now there is no separateness between You and me. Show me Your feet, Panduranga. You have no form, no outline, no name, no quality. You have no one fixed place, no town, no border. You take no pleasure in the company of any other. Your love is only for Your own devotees. Yet for our sake You will take on a visible form, the way You once burst out of the pillar. Tuka says: what could be too much for You? Give me the sight of Your feet.
What it means
Tukaram holds two things about God at once. On one side, God is utterly without form, name, quality, or location, and shares Himself with no one but His own devotees. On the other side, that same formless God takes on a visible body for the sake of those who love Him, and Tukaram recalls Narayana bursting out of the pillar to save Prahlada as proof. So he reasons: if God can do that, nothing is beyond Him. On that ground he asks for what he wants, the sight of those feet, with the separation between himself and God already dissolved.
The Nature of God
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