Begging to stay God's debtor
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सर्वात्मकपण । माझें हिरोनि नेतो कोण ॥1॥
मनीं भक्तीची आवडी । हेवा व्हावी ऐशी जोडी ॥ध्रु.॥
घेईन जन्मांतरें। हें चि करावया खरें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा । ॠणी करूनि ठेवूं सेवा॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Who can steal from me the sense of being present in all? My mind's desire is devotion; I wish for such a treasure that others might envy. I will take births again and again to make this real. Says Tuka, O God, let me keep You in my debt through service.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Who can take from me this sense of being present in all things? My mind's one love is devotion; I want such a treasure that others would envy it. I will take birth after birth just to make this real. Tuka says: O God, let me keep serving you, so that you stay forever in my debt.
What it means
Tukaram guards a single possession that no one can steal: the sense of God present in everything. Devotion is his mind's whole desire, and he wants it so richly that it would be the envy of others, a holy greed for the one worthwhile thing. He is willing to be born again and again, not to escape rebirth but to keep living this out. The closing turn is striking: instead of asking God to repay him, he asks to keep serving so that God remains in his debt, because for the lover the joy is in the giving, and to owe God nothing while God owes you would end the very service he treasures.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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