Devotion, the mind clings like a child
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चित्तीं धरीन मी पाउलें सकुमारें । सकळ बिढार संपत्तीचें ॥1॥
कंठीं धरिन मी नाम अमृताची वल्ली । होईल राहिली शीतळ तनु ॥ध्रु.॥
पाहेन श्रीमुख साजिरें सुंदर । सकळां अगर लावण्यांचें ॥2॥
करिन अंगसंग बाळकाचे परी । बैसेन तों वरी नुतरीं कडिये ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे हा केला तैसा होय । धरिली मनें सोय विठोबाची ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In my chitta I shall hold those tender feet, the entire treasury of all blessings. At my throat I shall hold the Name, the vine of nectar. My body shall remain cool with its touch. I shall gaze upon that lovely, radiant face, the storehouse of all beauty. Like a child, I shall cling to Him in embrace and not come down from His lap. Says Tuka, He becomes as you fashion Him. My mind has found its bearing toward Vithoba.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In my heart I will hold those tender feet, the whole treasury of every blessing. At my throat I will hold the Name, the vine of nectar; my body will stay cool with it. I will gaze on that lovely, radiant face, the storehouse of all beauty. Like a child I will cling to Him in embrace, and once I am up I will not come down from His lap. Tuka says: He becomes whatever you make of Him. My mind has set its course toward Vithoba.
What it means
Tukaram describes how he will hold his God in every part of himself: the feet in his heart, the Name at his throat like a cooling vine, the face before his eyes. The childlike image is the center of it; he means to climb into God's lap and simply refuse to get down, the way a small child clings and will not be put aside. The closing line carries the bhakta's quiet teaching: God takes the form your love gives Him, He becomes whatever you make of Him. So Tukaram fixes his whole mind on one bearing, toward Vithoba, and lets that loving thought shape the God he holds.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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