The mark of grace, God in the house
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
राजा चाले तेथें वैभव सांगातें । हें काय लागतें सांगावें त्या ॥1॥
कोणी कोणा एथें न मनी जी फुका । कृपेविण एका देवाचिया ॥ध्रु.॥
शृंगारिलें नाहीं तगोंयेत वरि । उमटे लौकरि जैसे तैतें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे घरीं वसे नारायण । कृपेची ते खुण साम्या येते ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When the king travels, grandeur accompanies him naturally. Does anyone need to tell the king this? No one here values anyone else for free, not without the grace of God alone. An image that has not been properly adorned will soon show its true nature underneath. Says Tuka, when Narayana dwells in the house, the signs of His grace become evident.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When a king travels, his splendor goes with him. No one needs to tell the king this. Here no one values anyone for free; it comes only from the grace of the one God. A thing that has not been truly adorned cannot hold its shine on top; the truth under it shows up soon enough. Tuka says: when Narayana lives in the house, the sign of His grace is the evenness that comes.
What it means
Tukaram is naming what real worth looks like and where it comes from. As a king carries his grandeur with him by nature, so a soul in whom God dwells carries something that needs no announcing. Worth here is not given freely or earned by show; it comes from the grace of the one God alone. Mere outer decoration, paint laid on top, soon peels and the true nature underneath shows; only what is genuine lasts. The sign that Narayana truly lives in a person is an inward evenness, a settled sameness, that no borrowed ornament can fake.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
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