Devotion, the trade in trust
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
द्वारकेचें केणें आलें या चि ठाया । पुढें भक्तराया चोजवीत ॥1॥
गोविलें विसारें माप केलें खरें । न पाहे माघारें अद्यापवरी ॥ध्रु.॥
वैष्णव मापार नाहीं जाली सळे । पुढें ही न कळे पार त्याचा ॥2॥
लाभ जाला त्यांनीं धरिला तो विचार । आहिक्य परत्र सांटविलें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे मज मिळाली मजुरी । विश्वास या घरीं संतांचिया ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The divine abundance of Dwaraka has come to this very place, as the Lord goes searching for His devotees. He was bound here by love; the measure was weighed as true and full, and He has not looked back since. The Vaishnavas who came to be measured were never shortchanged, nor will the full extent of this abundance ever be known. Those who gained this profit held firm to this wisdom, storing up the wealth of both this world and the next. Says Tuka, I too have received my wages, through the trust placed in the house of the saints.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The rich cargo of Dwaraka has come to this very place, the Lord moving ahead to seek out His devotees. He was bound here by love; the measure was weighed true and full, and to this day He has not turned back. The Vaishnavas who came to be measured were never shortchanged, and even now the full extent of this wealth is not known. Those who took this profit held firmly to that wisdom, storing up the wealth of both this world and the next. Tuka says: I too have been paid my wages, through the trust placed in this house of the saints.
What it means
Tukaram keeps the marketplace image and casts God's grace as the priceless cargo of Dwaraka, now arrived at Pandhari with the Lord Himself going out to find His devotees. He says God was bound to this place by love and has never turned away, and that the measure dealt to the Vaishnavas was always honest and full, its abundance beyond reckoning. Those who took the profit clung to that insight and laid up wealth for both worlds, this life and the next. Tukaram ends by naming his own share: he has received his wages too, and the wage came through one thing, the trust he placed in the company of the saints. Devotion is drawn as honest commerce in which faith is the capital and grace the inexhaustible return.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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