Devotion, the thief of the mind
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांवळें रूपडें चोरटें चित्ताचें । उभें पंढरीचे विटेवरी॥1॥
डोिळयांची धणी पाहातां न पुरे । तया लागीं झुरे मन माझें ॥ध्रु.॥
आन गोड कांहीं न लगे संसारीं । राहिले अंतरीं पाय तुझे॥2॥
प्राण रिघों पाहे कुडी हे सांडुनी । श्रीमुख नयनीं न देखतां ॥3॥
चित्त मोहियेलें नंदाच्या नंदनें । तुका ह्मणे येणें गरुडध्वजें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
That dark, beautiful form, the thief of chittas, stands upon the brick at Pandhari. My eyes can never have their fill of gazing upon Him. My mind pines for Him ceaselessly. Nothing else in this world tastes sweet to me; Your feet alone have settled within my chitta. My very life-breath seeks to leave this body because it cannot bear not seeing Your holy face. Says Tuka, my chitta has been stolen by the Son of Nanda, by this Bearer of the Garuda banner.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
That dark, lovely form, the thief of the mind, stands on the brick at Pandhari. My eyes gaze and gaze and are never full; for that my mind wastes away. Nothing else in this world tastes sweet to me; your feet have settled inside me. My breath wants to leave this body when my eyes cannot see your holy face. Tuka says: my mind has been stolen by the Son of Nanda, by this bearer of the Garuda banner.
What it means
Tukaram describes being captured by the dark beauty of Vitthal standing on the brick at Pandhari, calling him the thief who has stolen the mind. The longing is bodily: eyes that look and are never satisfied, a mind that pines, a world that has lost all other sweetness because the Lord's feet have lodged inside him. He goes to the edge, saying his very breath wants to leave the body when it cannot see that face. The closing names the thief plainly as Krishna, the Son of Nanda, the same Vitthal, so the loss of the self to him is owned as joy, not complaint.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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