Devotion, no need to boast
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जैसा अधिकार । तैसें बोलावें उत्तर ॥1॥
काय वाउगी घसघस । आह्मी विठोबाचे दास ॥ध्रु.॥
आह्मी जाणों एका देवा । जैसी तैसी करूं सेवा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भावें । माझें पुढें पडेल ठावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One should speak according to one's capacity and standing. Why the pointless bluster? We are servants of Vithoba. We know only one God and serve Him however we can. Says Tuka, the truth of my devotion will become clear in what lies ahead.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Speak your answer according to your standing, no more than that. Why all this pointless noise? We are servants of Vithoba. We know one God, and we serve Him as best we can, just as we are. Tuka says: through love, what is mine will show itself plainly in time.
What it means
Tukaram answers people who measure worth by clever talk and loud claims. He says a person should speak to the size of his actual standing and drop the empty bluster. His own standing he names simply: a servant of Vithoba who knows one God and serves Him however he is able. There is no boast in it and no apology either. The last line carries the trust underneath: he does not need to argue his case, because devotion proves itself, and what is truly his will become clear in what comes.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →