Adoration, the Name burns sin away
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देवांच्या ही देवा गोपिकांच्या पती । उदार हे ख्याती त्रिभुवनीं ॥1॥
पातकांच्या रासी नासितोसी नामें । जळतील कर्में महा दोष ॥ध्रु.॥
सर्व सुखें तुझ्या वोळगती पायीं । रििद्ध सििद्ध ठायीं मुक्तिचारी ॥2॥
इंद्रासी दुर्लभ पाविजे तें पद । गीत गातां छंद वातां टाळी ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे जड जीव शक्तिहीन । त्यांचें तूं जीवन पांडुरंगा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O God of gods, Lord of the gopis, Your fame as the most generous resounds through the three worlds. By Your name, heaps of sins are destroyed; great transgressions burn away. All joys attend Your feet; prosperity, accomplishment, and liberation serve You there. That state which is rare even for Indra is attained by those who sing Your songs and clap in rhythm. Says Tuka, You are the very life of the helpless and powerless, O Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God of the gods, Lord of the gopis, your fame as the most generous one sounds through the three worlds. By your name, heaps of sins are destroyed; great wrongs burn away. Every joy waits at your feet; wealth, attainment, and release all serve you there. That state which is hard even for Indra to reach is gained by those who sing your songs and clap in rhythm. Tuka says: you are the very life of the helpless and the powerless, O Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram praises Vitthal as the supreme and most open-handed Lord, then makes the central claim of the bhakti path: the Name alone destroys whole mountains of sin. He sets up a deliberate reversal of values. The high state that even Indra struggles to win is handed freely to ordinary people who simply sing and clap before God. The point is that devotion outranks power and merit; what kings of heaven cannot earn, singers gain by love. The closing turn lands it on those who have nothing, the weak and helpless, for whom Panduranga is not a reward but their very breath and life.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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