Adoration, beyond the gods' reach
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गणेश सारजा करिती गायना । आणि देवांगना रंभे ऐशा ॥1॥
तेथें आह्मीं मानवांहीं विनवावें तें काय । सुरवर पाय वंदिति जेथें ॥ध्रु.॥
ज्याच्या गायनासी तटस्थ शंकर । त्या हि परि पार न कळे तुझा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी किंकर ते किती । इंद्राची हि मति नागविशी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Ganesha and Saraswati sing before Him, along with divine maidens like Rambha. What can we mere mortals offer there, where the gods themselves bow at His feet? Even Shankara, who stands entranced by such singing, cannot fathom Your depths. Says Tuka, we are the humblest of servants. You bewilder even the intellect of Indra.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Ganesha and Saraswati sing before Him, and divine women like Rambha as well. There, where the gods themselves bow at His feet, what is there for us mortals to offer? Even Shankara stands still, lost in that singing, and still he cannot find Your far shore. Tuka says: how small are we, His servants. You confound even the mind of Indra.
What it means
Tukaram measures God's greatness by who fails to reach it. The high gods sing in His presence and bow at His feet; Shiva himself is frozen in wonder by that music and still cannot fathom the depth. If the foremost beings cannot find God's limit, the poet asks what a mere mortal servant could possibly add. The closing line lands it: even Indra, king of the gods, has his intellect baffled. The smallness Tukaram claims is not despair but the proper posture before a One that overflows every measure the cosmos can bring.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →