Adoration, the guileless King
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कृपाळु भक्तांचा । ऐसा पति गोपिकांचा ॥१॥
उभा न पाचारितां दारीं । न संगतां काम करी ॥ध्रु.॥
भाव देखोनि निर्मळ । रजां वोडवी कपाळ ॥२॥
तुकयाबंधु म्हणे न भजा । कां रे ऐसा भोळा राजा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
So gracious is this Lord to the devoted, the very husband of the milkmaids. He stands at the door without being called and does your work without being told. Seeing a pure heart, he bows his own forehead to the dust of its feet. Says Tuka's brother, why will you not worship such a guileless King?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He is gracious to those who love him. He is the very husband of the milkmaids. He stands at your door, and you did not call him. He does your work, and you did not ask. When he sees a heart that is clean, he bows his own forehead down into the dust at its feet. Tuka's brother says: why will you not worship such a guileless King?
What it means
The poem praises Vitthal by the way he serves rather than the way he is served. He comes unbidden and works unasked; he is the Lord of the gopis, near and intimate. The sharp turn is the second verse: seeing a pure heart, God lowers his own head to the dust of the devotee's feet, reversing every expectation of who bows to whom. The closing question presses the listener: a King this open and this humble is precisely the one you have no excuse to refuse.
The Nature of God
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