Praise, God who lifts the lowly
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुज ऐसा कोण उदाराची रासी । आपुलें चि देसी पद दासा ॥1॥
शुद्ध हीन कांहीं न पाहासी कुळ । करिसी निर्मळ वास देहीं ॥2॥
भावें हें कदान्न खासी त्याचे घरीं । अभक्तांची परी नावडेती ॥3॥
न वजासी जेथें दुरी दवडितां । न येसी जो चित्ता योगियांच्या ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसीं ब्रीदें तुझीं खरीं । बोलतील चारी वेद मुखें ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Who is as generous as You, who gives His own divine state to His servants? You do not look at whether one is pure or lowly, nor at one's caste. You make Your dwelling even in impure bodies. With love You eat the coarse food at a devotee's home, yet feasts without devotion do not please You. You go where You are driven away, yet You do not come to the chitta of the yogis who seek You. Says Tuka, these are Your true titles, proclaimed by the four Vedas themselves.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Who is as generous as you? You give your own state to your servants. You do not look at whether a man is pure or low; you do not look at his caste. You make your home even in unclean bodies. You eat the coarse food in a devotee's house, and you eat it with love. But a feast without love does not please you. You go where you are driven away. You do not come to the minds of the yogis who chase you. Tuka says: these titles of yours are true. The four Vedas speak them with their own mouths.
What it means
Tukaram praises God by the company he keeps. The point is not that God is mighty, but that he turns toward the lowest and away from the proud. He ignores caste and purity, dwells in bodies the world calls unclean, and prefers a poor man's coarse food given in love over a grand feast given without it. The last turn is the sharpest: God walks into the house that drives him out, yet stays away from the yogis who use their practice to seize him. Love draws him; striving repels him, and Tukaram says the Vedas themselves attest to this.
The Nature of God
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