Abhanga 3329
It is honest faith to question God directly about why a formless, changeless truth chose to create a world full of fear and struggle.
The verse
सत्य तूं सत्य तूं सत्य तूं विठ्ठला । कां गा हा दाविला जगदाकार ॥१॥
सांभाळीं आपुली हाक देतो माया । आम्हांसी कां भयाभीत केलें ॥ध्रु.॥
रूप नाहीं त्यासी ठेवियेलें नाम । लटका चि श्रम वाढविला ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कां गा जालासी चतुर । होतासी निसुर निर्विकार ॥३॥
Literal translation
True-you, true-you, true-you, Viṭhṭhalā — why-show-this-jagad-form. Save-your-own; Māyā-calls — why-make-us-bhayā-bhīta. No-rūpa-to-(you), nāma-set; false-śrama-increased. Tukā: why-become-chatura — you-were-nisura-nirvikāra.
What it means
A rare and bold māyā-cosmology lament. The triple-satya-affirmation followed by a why-show-the-world-form question echoes Upaniṣadic sat-sat-sat declarations but turns it into a petition. Why are you the clever-trickster, when you were the motionless-changeless one?
For someone today
Tukaram voices a bold, almost accusing question straight at God, you are truth, truth, truth itself, so why did you ever put on this appearance of a whole created world? He says maya, the illusion-making power, is calling out and causing real fear in ordinary people, and he wants God to take charge of it. You who actually have no form at all, he says, have let yourself be given a name and a shape, and in doing so you have only added false struggle and toil onto everyone. He ends almost in exasperation, why did you become clever and playful, when you used to be simply still and unchanging? This is faith wrestling honestly with the mystery of suffering, not polite acceptance.
मराठी: तुकाराम देवाला थेट, जवळजवळ आरोप करणारा प्रश्न विचारतात, तू सत्य आहेस, सत्य आहेस, सत्य आहेस विठ्ठला, मग हे सगळं जगाचं रूप का दाखवलंस? माया हाक मारते आहे आणि सामान्य माणसांना खरी भीती वाटते आहे, तिला आवर घाल असं ते म्हणतात. ज्याला मुळात रूपच नाही त्याने नाव आणि आकार धारण केला, आणि त्यामुळे उगीचच खोटा त्रास वाढला, असं ते सांगतात. शेवटी जवळजवळ त्रासून ते विचारतात, तू इतका चतुर, खेळकर का झालास, तू तर आधी शांत, निर्विकार होतास? हा प्रामाणिक विश्वास आहे जो दुःखाच्या रहस्याशी झगडतो, केवळ नम्रपणे स्वीकार करत नाही.
Where this applies
- When you feel honestly confused or upset about why a good and formless God allows a world full of fear and struggle
- When you question why spiritual life feels complicated when the underlying truth should be simple
- When you want permission to argue with God rather than only offer praise, as an act of real devotion
- When you are caught in fear or illusion and want to call out for God to intervene directly