Devotion, the saints against God's silence
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मज संतांचा आधार । तूं एकलें निविनकार ॥1॥
पाहा विचारूनि देवा । नको आह्मांसवें दावा ॥ध्रु.॥
तुज बोल न बोलवे। आह्मां भांडायाची सवे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तरी । ऐक्यभाव उरे उरी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have the support of the saints, while You stand alone, beyond all change. Consider this carefully, O God, and do not contend with us. You cannot bring Yourself to speak, but we are well practiced in argument. Says Tuka, yet in the end, only the feeling of oneness remains.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have the saints to lean on; You stand alone, beyond all change. Think it over, God: do not pick a fight with us. You cannot bring Yourself to speak, but we are well practiced at arguing. Tuka says: even so, in the end only the feeling of oneness remains.
What it means
Tukaram teases God in the voice of an affectionate quarrel. He boasts that he has the company of the saints behind him, while God stands alone and changeless, so God had better not contend with him. The joke is that God is silent and will not argue back, whereas devotees are practiced and stubborn in argument and would surely win. Yet he ends by dissolving the contest: under all the playful sparring, what truly remains is the feeling of oneness between the devotee and God.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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