Adoration, the God who shields us
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आम्हासाठीं अवतार । मत्स्यकूर्मादि सूकर ॥१॥
मोहें धांवे घाली पान्हा । नांव घेतां पंढरीराणा ॥ध्रु.॥
कोठें न दिसे पाहतां । उडी घाली अवचिता ॥२॥
सुख ठेवी आम्हासाठीं । दुःख आपणची घोंटी ॥३॥
आम्हां घाली पाठीकडे । पुढें कळिकाळाशीं भिडे ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे कृपानीधी । आम्हां उतरीं नांवेमधीं ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
For our sake he took the forms of the Fish, the Tortoise, and the Boar. When we call the name of the Lord of Pandharpur, he rushes forward overflowing with a mother's milk of love. When he is nowhere to be seen, he suddenly leaps forth without warning. He keeps all joy for us and swallows the suffering himself. He places us behind his back and faces Death head on. Says Tuka, O treasury of mercy, carry us safely across in your boat.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He took on bodies for our sake: the Fish, the Tortoise, the Boar. When we say the name of the Lord of Pandhari, he runs to us with love, his milk flowing like a mother's. When you look, he is nowhere; then all at once he leaps out. He keeps the joy for us and swallows the sorrow himself. He puts us behind his back and stands in front, facing Death. Tuka says: O treasury of mercy, carry us across in your boat.
What it means
Tukaram lists the reasons to trust God completely. The avatars, Fish, Tortoise, Boar, were not for God's own sake but for ours; the same Lord runs to the one who calls the Name, with a mother's instinct, not a master's calculation. The poem keeps reversing where God and devotee stand: God is invisible until he suddenly appears, he hands us the joy and drinks the pain himself, he shields us with his own body while he meets Death face to face. The closing prayer follows naturally: a God who does all this can be asked to ferry us across the world's flood, and he will.
The Nature of God
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