Vow, shameless dancing love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां माझा सर्वभावें हा निर्धार । न करीं विचार आणिकांसी ॥1॥
सर्वभावें नाम गाईन आवडी । सर्व माझी जोडी पाय तुझे ॥ध्रु.॥
लोटांगण तुझ्या घालीन अंगणीं । पाहीन भरोनि डोळे मुख ॥2॥
निर्लज्ज होऊनि नाचेन रंगणीं । येऊं नेदी मनीं शंका कांहीं ॥3॥
अंकित अंकिला दास तुझा देवा । संकल्प हा जीवा तुका ह्मणे ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now my resolve, with all my being, is this: I shall not consult anyone else. With all my being, I shall sing the Name with love. Your feet are my only gain. I shall prostrate myself in Your courtyard and gaze upon Your face with eyes brimming full. Without shame, I shall dance in the open arena, allowing no doubt to enter my mind. Says Tuka, I am marked and sealed as Your servant, O God. This is the vow of my jiva.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now my resolve, with my whole being, is this: I will consult no one else. With my whole being I will sing the Name in love. Your feet are my only gain. I will throw myself down in your courtyard and gaze at your face with my eyes brimming full. Without shame I will dance in the open arena and let no doubt enter my mind. Tuka says: I am marked and sealed as your servant, O God. This is the vow of my soul.
What it means
Tukaram makes a vow and stakes his whole being on it. He will no longer take counsel anywhere else; the Name sung in love is now his single occupation, and God's feet his only treasure. The devotion he describes is unguarded and physical: prostration in the courtyard, eyes filled with looking at God's face, and dancing in the open without caring how it looks. The shamelessness is the proof of the vow. He calls himself marked and sealed, ankita, fully owned, and declares that this self-giving is settled in the depth of his soul, not a passing mood.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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