Devotion, refusing knowledge for the lover's God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नको ब्रह्मज्ञान आत्मिस्थतिभाव । मी भक्त तूं देव ऐसें करीं ॥1॥
दावीं रूप मज गोपिकारमणा । ठेवीन चरणांवरी माथा ॥ध्रु.॥
पाहोनि श्रीमुख देइन आलिंगन । जीवें निंबलोण उतरीन ॥2॥
पुसतां सांगेन हितगुज मात । बैसोनि एकांत सुखगोष्टी ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे यासी न लावीं उशीर । माझें अभ्यंतर जाणोनियां ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I do not want the knowledge of Brahman or the state of Self-realization. Simply make me the devotee and You the God. Show me Your form, O beloved of the gopis, that I may lay my head upon Your feet. Seeing Your blessed face, I shall embrace You, and with my very life I shall ward off the evil eye from You. When You ask, I shall share my innermost confidences with You. We shall sit together in solitude and speak of joyful things. Says Tuka, do not delay in this. You know what lies within me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I do not want the knowledge of Brahman, nor the state of the Self. Make me the devotee and You the God; do this much. Show me Your form, O beloved of the gopis. I will lay my head on Your feet. Seeing Your blessed face, I will embrace You. With my very life I will ward off the evil eye from You. When You ask, I will tell You my heart's secrets. We will sit alone together and speak of happy things. Tuka says: do not be slow in this. You know what is within me.
What it means
Tukaram openly refuses the highest goals of philosophy, knowledge of Brahman and absorption in the Self, because they erase the very thing he loves: the difference between worshipper and worshipped. He wants to stay the devotee so he can have a face to see, feet to touch, a body to embrace. The images are tender and domestic: shielding the beloved God from the evil eye, sitting alone to share secrets, like family. This is the bhakta's deliberate choice of intimacy over merger. He closes by pressing God for haste, trusting that God already knows the longing inside him.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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