Devotion, the Father who cannot abandon
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय न्यून आहे सांगा । पांडुरंगा तुह्मांपें ॥1॥
आमुची तों न पुरे इच्छा । पिता ऐसा मस्तकीं ॥ध्रु.॥
कैसी तुह्मां होय सांडी । करुणा तोंडीं उच्चारें ॥2॥
आश्चर्य चि करी तुका । हे नायका वैकुंठिंचिया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Tell me, what is lacking with You, O Panduranga? Our desire never finds its end, with a Father such as You crowning our heads. How can You abandon one who cries out Your name in anguish? Says Tuka, this is wondrous indeed, O Lord of Vaikuntha.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Tell me, what is lacking with You, O Panduranga? Our wish never runs short, with a Father like You over our heads. How could You forsake the one who cries Your name in his pain? Tuka says: this is a wonder, O Lord of Vaikuntha.
What it means
Tukaram reasons from God's abundance to God's faithfulness. Nothing is wanting in Panduranga, so with such a Father watching over them his children's needs can never go unmet. From this he presses the real point: it would be unthinkable for so full a Father to abandon a child who calls out His name in distress. The poem ends in wonder rather than fear, marveling at the Lord of Vaikuntha whose nature makes desertion impossible; the devotee's confidence rests not on his own worth but on what God simply is.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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