Devotion, a child asking not to be tested
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां नये बोलों अव्हेराची मात । बाळावरि चित्त असों द्यावें ॥1॥
तुज कां सांगणें लागे हा प्रकार । परि हें उत्तर आवडीचें ॥ध्रु.॥
न वंचीं वो कांहीं एकही प्रकार । आपणां अंतर नका मज ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मोहो राखावा सतंत । नये पाहों अंत पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now do not speak words of neglect. Let Your attention remain upon this child. Why should it be necessary to tell You this? Yet these words come from deep affection. Do not withhold anything, not even a single gesture. Do not put distance between Yourself and me. Says Tuka, keep this loving bond perpetual, O Panduranga. Do not test my patience.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now do not speak words of neglect. Keep Your attention on this child. Why should I have to tell You this? Yet these are words of love. Do not hold back even one small thing from me; put no distance between Yourself and me. Tuka says: keep this bond of love unbroken always. Do not test me to the end, O Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram pleads with God as a child pleads with a parent who might look away. He asks Vitthal not to speak of neglect and to keep watching over him, then admits that such a reminder should not even be necessary; it comes only from the ache of affection. He begs that nothing be withheld and no distance opened, and that the loving bond never be allowed to lapse. The closing line names the real fear: do not test my patience to its limit, for a soul this dependent cannot bear to be made to wait.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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