God as parent, rescued from drowning
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लेकरा आईतें पित्याची जतन । दावी निजधन सर्व जोडी ॥1॥
त्यापरि आमचा जालासे सांभाळ । देखिला चि काळ नाहीं आड ॥ध्रु.॥
भुकेचे संनिध वसे स्तनपान । उपायाची भिन्न चिंता नाहीं ॥2॥
आळवूनि तुका उभा पैलथडी । घातली या उडी पांडुरंगें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A father guards and preserves his wealth for his child, showing the heir all that has been earned. In just that way, we have been protected. Death has never been allowed to stand in the way. Nourishment lies close at hand, like a mother's breast near the hungry infant; there is no separate anxiety about finding a remedy. Says Tuka, he called out from the far bank, and Panduranga leapt in to save him.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A father guards his wealth for his child and shows the heir all he has earned. In just that way I have been kept. Death has never been let to stand in my way. Food is close at hand, like a mother's breast near the hungry baby; there is no separate worry about finding a cure. Tuka says: I called out from the far bank, and Panduranga leapt in to save me.
What it means
Tukaram is naming the kind of care God gives, using two everyday pictures. God is the father who hoards nothing back but shows the child the whole inheritance, and the mother whose milk is already there before the infant's hunger becomes a problem. The point is that the devotee never has to scheme for his own rescue; the remedy waits closer than the need. He ends with the stark image of himself stranded on the far bank, and Panduranga not calling instructions across but leaping into the water to bring him over. The claim is that grace acts first and acts completely.
The Nature of God
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