Praise that fails, yet the tongue still craves it
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
स्तुति करूं तरी नव्हे चि या वेदा । तेथें माझा धंदा कोणीकडे ॥1॥
परी हे वैखरी गोडावली सुखें । रसना रस मुखें इच्छीतसे ॥ध्रु.॥
रूप वर्णावया कोठें पुरे मती । रोमीं होती जाती ब्रह्मांडें हीं ॥2॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even the Vedas cannot adequately praise You; where then does my feeble attempt stand? Yet my vaikhari, my articulated speech, has grown sweet with the joy of it, and my tongue craves the taste upon its lips. To describe Your form, where does the intellect suffice? Entire universes arise and vanish in each pore of Your being.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If I try to praise you, even the Vedas cannot do it. Where then does my poor effort stand? And yet my speech has grown sweet with the joy of it. My tongue craves the taste of it on my lips. To describe your form, how can the intellect ever be enough? In each pore of you whole universes arise and pass away.
What it means
Tukaram admits at once that praising God is beyond him; if even the Vedas fall short, his own attempt is nothing. But the failure does not stop him, because the praising itself has turned sweet, and his tongue keeps reaching for the taste the way one craves a flavor on the lips. He cannot describe the divine form because no intellect is large enough to hold it. He gives the measure of why: in a single pore of God, entire universes are coming into being and dissolving. The mind cannot encompass that, yet the joy of trying is its own reward.
The Nature of God
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