Devotion, asking God to be pleased
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पावावे संतोष । तुह्मीं यासाटीं सायास ॥1॥
करीं आवडी वचनें । पालटूनि क्षणक्षणें ॥ध्रु.॥
द्यावें अभयदान । भुमीन पाडावें वचन ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे परस्परें । कांहीं वाढवीं उत्तरें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You should be pleased; for this purpose we make our efforts. I compose words of devotion, changing them moment by moment. Grant the gift of fearlessness; do not let Your word fall to the ground. Says Tuka, let us increase our exchange of words, back and forth, together.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You should be pleased; it is for this that we take such pains. I make words of love, changing them moment by moment. Grant the gift of fearlessness; do not let Your word fall to the ground. Tuka says: between us, let us keep increasing the exchange of words, back and forth.
What it means
Tukaram frames his poetry as labor offered to delight God. He reshapes his words of devotion again and again, hoping only that Vitthal will be pleased by them. His request is for the gift of fearlessness, abhaya, and he asks God not to let His own promise drop unfulfilled to the ground. The verse pictures bhakti as a living conversation, words passed back and forth between devotee and God, and asks that this exchange keep growing rather than fall silent.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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