Devotion, dance without shame
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांडूनि कीर्तन न करीं आणीक काज । नाचेन निर्लज्ज तुझ्या रंगीं ॥1॥
आवडीचें आर्त पुरवीं पंढरिराया । शरण तुझ्या पायां या चि लागीं ॥ध्रु.॥
टाळी वाहूनियां विठ्ठल ह्मणेन । तेणें निवारीन भवश्रम ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा नुपेक्षावें आह्मां । न्यावें निजधामा आपुलिया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Giving up everything else, I shall do nothing but kirtan. I shall dance without shame, lost in Your divine rapture. Fulfill the longing of my chitta, O Lord of Pandhari. I come to Your feet for this one thing alone. Clapping my hands, I shall cry 'Vitthal,' and by that I shall conquer the weariness of worldly existence. Says Tuka, O God, do not neglect us. Take us to Your own abode.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Leaving everything else, I will do nothing but kirtan. I will dance without shame in Your rapture. Fulfill the longing of my heart, O Lord of Pandhari. I come to Your feet for this one thing alone. Clapping my hands, I will cry 'Vitthal,' and by that I will drive off the weariness of this world. Tuka says: O God, do not neglect us. Take us to Your own home.
What it means
Tukaram makes his whole vocation a single act. He drops every other task and keeps only kirtan, ready to dance without shame because he is lost in the Lord's rapture, not minding how it looks. From Vitthal, the Lord of Pandhari, he asks one thing: that this longing be filled. The means is plain and bodily, hands clapping and the cry of 'Vitthal,' and he claims that this alone wears away the exhaustion of worldly existence. He closes by asking God not to overlook him but to carry him home to God's own abode.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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