Devotion, the clinging child
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दारीं परोवरी । कुडीं कवाडीं मी घरीं ॥1॥
तुमच्या लागलों पोषणा । अवघे ठायीं नारायणा ॥ध्रु.॥
नेदीं खाऊं जेवूं । हातींतोंडींचें ही घेऊं ॥2 ॥
तुका ह्मणे अंगीं । जडलों ठायींचा सलगी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
At the door, at the threshold, in every nook and corner of the house, I cling to You for sustenance, O Narayana, in every place. I will not let You eat or drink; I will even take what is in Your hand or mouth. Says Tuka, I have become permanently attached through old familiarity.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
At the door, on the porch, by the wall, at the gate, I am there in the house with You. I have fastened myself to You for my feeding, everywhere, O Narayana. I will not let You eat or drink in peace; I will snatch even what is in Your hand and Your mouth. Tuka says: I have stuck to Your body out of an old, settled familiarity.
What it means
Tukaram plays the part of a small child who will not leave a parent alone. He is everywhere in the house, at the door and the gate and the wall, depending on God for his every meal and giving Him no privacy. The image of grabbing the food from God's own hand and mouth is the boldness of a child who feels wholly entitled, not a stranger who would be shy. He names the reason in the last line: this clinging comes from long familiarity, a closeness so old and settled that there is no formality left in it. Devotion at its most intimate, he suggests, is this kind of shameless belonging.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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