Only God can describe God, only God can reveal himself
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुज वर्णी ऐसा तुज विण नाहीं । दुजा कोणी तीहीं त्रिभुवनीं ॥1॥
सहस्रमुखें शेष सिणला बापुडा । चिरलिया धडा जिव्हा त्याच्या ॥ध्रु.॥
अव्यक्त अलक्षा अपारा अनंता । निर्गुणा सचिद नारायणा ॥2॥
रूप नाम घेसी आपुल्या स्वइच्छा । होसी भाव तैसा त्याकारणें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे जरी दाविसी आपणा । तरि च नारायणा कळों येसी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
There is no one in the three worlds who can describe You except Yourself. The thousand-mouthed Shesha has grown weary, even with his tongues split into countless parts. You are unmanifest, imperceptible, boundless, and infinite, O formless Narayana of pure being and consciousness. You take up name and form by Your own will, becoming whatever the devotee's faith requires. Says Tuka, only if You reveal Yourself, O Narayana, can You be known.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
No one can describe you but yourself. In all three worlds there is no second who can. The thousand-mouthed Shesha grew weary, poor thing, his tongues split into countless parts and still he failed. You are unmanifest, beyond sight, boundless, infinite, formless Narayana, pure being and consciousness. You take name and form by your own will. You become whatever the devotee's faith needs you to be. Tuka says: only if you show yourself, O Narayana, can you be known.
What it means
Tukaram says the one who could rightly describe God is God alone; nowhere in the three worlds is there a second fit for the task. Even Shesha, the serpent with a thousand mouths and tongues split many times over, wore himself out and could not do it. In himself God is unmanifest, imperceptible, without limit or form, pure being and consciousness. Yet by his own free will he takes on name and form, becoming whatever shape the devotee's faith asks for. The conclusion follows: he cannot be reached by our effort to grasp him; he can only be known if he chooses to reveal himself.
The Nature of God
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