The sinner's claim, mercy needs the fallen
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जरी मी नव्हतों पतित । तरि तूं पावन कैंचा येथ ॥1॥
ह्मणोनि माझें नाम आधीं । मग तूं पावन कृपानिधी ॥ध्रु.॥
लोहो महिमान परिसा । नाहीं तरीं दगड जैसा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे याचकभावें। कल्पतरु मान पावे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If I were not a sinner, how then would You be called the Purifier? Therefore my name must come first, and then Yours as the merciful redeemer. Iron gives the touchstone its glory; without it, the touchstone is just another stone. Says Tuka, the wishing-tree gains its honor through the one who comes to ask.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If I were not fallen, how could You be called the Purifier here? So my name must come first, and only then Yours, O treasure of mercy. Iron gives the touchstone its glory; without iron the touchstone is just a stone. Tuka says: the wishing-tree wins its honor through the one who comes to ask.
What it means
Tukaram makes a daring argument about how mercy works. God's title of Purifier means nothing unless there is someone fallen to purify, so in a real sense the sinner's name must come before God's. He drives it home with two images: the touchstone is only a plain rock until iron is brought to it, and the wishing-tree earns its fame only when someone comes to ask. The point is not pride but reversal: his own lowliness is exactly what gives God's mercy something to be, so he offers his sin as the very ground of his claim.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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