Gratitude, the rescue of nothing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुह्मां ठावा होता देवा । माझें अंतरींचा हेवा ॥1॥
होती काशानें सुटका । तरि हे वैकुंठनायका ॥ध्रु.॥
नसतें सांभािळलें। जरि तुह्मीं आश्वासिलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कृपाळुवा । बरवा केला सावाधावा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You knew all along, O God, the longing hidden within my heart. How could there have been any escape from that? O Lord of Vaikuntha, tell me. You rescued me even when there was nothing real to rescue, simply because You had given me assurance. Says Tuka, O merciful One, You made a fine rescue indeed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You knew it all along, O God. You knew the longing hidden in my heart. By what means could I ever have escaped it? Tell me, Lord of Vaikuntha. There was nothing real in me to guard, yet you guarded me, because you had given me your word. Tuka says: O merciful one, you made a fine rescue.
What it means
Tukaram marvels that God saw the secret longing in his heart before he could even voice it, and that there was never any way for him to wriggle free of it. He puts the question to the Lord of Vaikuntha as half wonder, half complaint. The strange grace he names is that God protected him when there was nothing worth protecting, doing it simply to keep his own promise. So the closing line is plain gratitude: the merciful one carried out the rescue beautifully, and the saving was all God's doing, not his own merit.
The Nature of God
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