Arati, the formless takes a form
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ओवाळूं आरती पंढरीराया । सर्वभावें शरण आलों तुझिया पायां ॥१॥
सर्व व्यापून कैसें रूप आकळ । तो हा गौळ्या घरीं जाला कृष्ण बाळ ॥ध्रु.॥
स्वरूप गुणातीत जाला अवतारधारी । तो हा पांडुरंग उभा विटेवरी ॥२॥
भक्तिचिया काजा कैसा रूपासि आला । ब्रिदाचा तोडर चरणीं मिरविला ॥३॥
भावभक्तिबळें होसी कृपाळु देवा । तुका म्हणे पांडुरंगा तुझ्या न कळती मावा ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let me wave the lamp of worship before the Lord of Pandhari. With all my being I have come to the shelter of your feet. How is it that the one who pervades everything and whose form is beyond grasp was born as the child Krishna in a cowherd's house? He who is beyond all qualities took the form of an incarnation; that same Panduranga stands upon the brick. For the sake of devotion he assumed a visible form and proudly wears the anklet of his pledge upon his feet. Says Tuka, through the strength of loving devotion you become gracious, O God; O Panduranga, your ways are beyond anyone's reckoning.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let me wave the lamp of worship before the Lord of Pandhari. With my whole being I have come to the shelter of your feet. How is it that the one who fills all things, whose form cannot be grasped, became the child Krishna in a cowherd's house? He who is beyond all qualities took on a body as an incarnation; that same Panduranga stands here upon the brick. For the sake of devotion he came into a visible form, and on his feet he proudly wears the anklet of his vow. Tuka says: by the strength of loving faith you turn gracious, O God; O Panduranga, your ways are past anyone's understanding.
What it means
This is an arati, a lamp waved before the deity, but it stops to marvel at the deepest mystery of that deity. The God being worshipped is the one who pervades everything and has no graspable form, yet he became a baby in a cowherd's home and now stands as a plain stone image on the brick at Pandhari. The poem says he did this on purpose, for the sake of devotion, even wearing the anklet of a vow on his feet like a binding pledge to his devotees. The point is that love draws the formless into a form it can hold and serve. Tuka ends by confessing that this self-lowering of God is beyond all reckoning; only devotion, not reasoning, can meet it.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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