Devotion, demanding the proof
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पतितमिरासी । ते म्यां धरिला जीवेंसी ॥1॥
आतां बिळया सांग कोण । ग्वाही तुझें माझें मन ॥ध्रु.॥
पावणांचा ठसा। दावीं मज तुझा कैसा ॥2॥
वाव तुका ह्मणे जालें । रोख पाहिजे दाविलें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have seized hold of the title Purifier of the Fallen with my very life. Now tell me, who will be the witness? Your chitta and mine both know the truth. Show me the mark of those You have truly saved. Says Tuka, promises have been made; now let the payment be shown in full.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have seized the title Purifier of the Fallen and held it with my life. Now tell me, who will be the witness? Your heart and mine both know the truth. Show me the mark of those You have truly saved. Tuka says: the promises have been made; now let the payment be shown in full.
What it means
Tukaram lays claim to God's own name, Purifier of the Fallen, and grips it as his only security, since he counts himself among the fallen. He asks who will witness the case and answers it himself: God's heart and his own both already know the truth. Then he presses for evidence, the visible mark of the truly rescued, and asks to see it on himself. The poem closes by treating salvation as a debt God has promised, and demands that the payment now be made good in full.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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