Faith, hungry for recognition
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाही दुकळलों अन्ना । परि या मान जनादनना ॥1॥
देव केला सकळसाक्षी । काळीं आणि शुद्धपक्षीं ॥ध्रु.॥
भोगी भोगविता। बाळासवें तो चि पिता ॥2॥
कर्म अकर्म जळालें । प्रौढें तुका तें उरले ॥3॥
नाटाचे अभंग समाप्त 63
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have not starved for bread, O Janardana, but I hunger for your recognition. I have made God the witness of everything, in dark times and in bright. The one who experiences and the one who grants experience are one; the father accompanies his child through all. Both action and inaction are burned away. Says Tuka, only the bold and steadfast survive.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have not gone hungry for bread, Janardana. But I hunger for your regard. I have made God the witness of everything, in dark days and in bright. The one who enjoys and the one who grants the enjoying are one. The father walks beside his child through all of it. Action and inaction are both burned away. Tuka says: only the bold and steadfast remain.
What it means
Tukaram says his real hunger is not for food, which he has, but to be seen and owned by God. He lives with God as the witness of every moment, good times and bad alike. He sees the one who enjoys and the one who grants enjoyment as a single reality, and trusts that God walks beside him as a father beside his child. In that trust both action and inaction lose their hold and burn away. What is left, he says, is what belongs to the bold and steadfast.
Faith and Trust
The boldness of faith, steadfastness, and the security of trusting in God.
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