Humility, the smallest in God's court
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
यमधर्म आणिक ब्रह्मादिक देव । त्यांचा पूर्ण भाव तुझे पायीं ॥1॥
करिती स्मरण पार्वतीशंकर । तेथें मी किंकर कोणीकडे॥ध्रु.॥
सहजरमुखेंसी घोष फणिवराचा । मज किंकराचा पाड काय ॥2॥
चंद्र सूर्य आणि सर्व तारांगणें । करिती भ्रमण प्रदिक्षणा ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे त्यांसी स्वरूप कळेना । तेथें मज दीना कोण पुसे ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Yama, Brahma, and all the gods hold perfect devotion at Your feet. Parvati and Shankara ceaselessly remember You. Where do I, a mere servant, stand in that company? Shesha with his thousand mouths raises a constant hymn. What is the standing of this humble servant? The sun, moon, and all the stars revolve around You in circumambulation. Says Tuka, when even they cannot fathom Your nature, who will pay attention to a wretch like me?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Yama, Brahma, and all the gods hold full devotion at your feet. Parvati and Shankara remember you without stopping. Where do I, a servant, stand among them? Shesha with his many mouths sings your hymn without end. What weight does a servant like me carry? The moon, the sun, and all the host of stars go round you in circles. Tuka says: when even they cannot grasp your nature, who will ask after a wretch like me?
What it means
Tukaram measures his own smallness against the grandest worshippers in creation. The death-lord Yama, the creator Brahma, Parvati and Shankara, the thousand-mouthed serpent Shesha, the sun and moon and all the stars, every one of them already adores God and circles Him in worship. Set beside that company, Tukaram counts for nothing, a servant of no weight. Yet the smallness is not despair: by confessing that even these mighty beings cannot fathom God's nature, he turns his own littleness into a plea, asking why the Lord would bother to notice a wretch like him, which is exactly the noticing he hopes for.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →