True worship, the willing cow
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वळितें जें गाई । त्यासि फार लागे काई ॥१॥
निवे भावाच्या उत्तरीं । भलते एके धणी वरी ॥ध्रु.॥
न लगती प्रकार । कांहीं मानाचा आदर ॥२॥
सांडी थोरपणा । तुका म्हणे सवें दीना ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A cow that turns of her own accord needs very little coaxing. God is satisfied by the response born of bhava; one heartfelt offering is enough. No ceremony of rank is needed. Says Tuka, God casts off greatness and walks alongside the lowly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A cow that comes to be milked of her own accord needs hardly any coaxing. Just so, God is satisfied by an answer that comes from real feeling; one heartfelt offering is enough for him. No ceremony of rank or status is needed. Tuka says: God sets his own greatness aside and walks beside the lowly.
What it means
Tukaram measures worship by willingness, not by grandeur. The cow that gives milk freely needs no forcing, and God is content the same way, with a response that rises from genuine feeling; a single offering made in love is enough. None of the apparatus of status matters to him. The closing image is the whole of Tukaram's God: not a king demanding ceremony, but one who lays his greatness down and comes to walk at the side of the poor and lowly. The feeling is the only coin he accepts.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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