Devotion, blessed to be born a servant
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
इहलोकींचा हा देहे । देव इच्छिताती पाहें ॥१॥
धन्य आम्ही जन्मा आलों । दास विठोबाचे जालों ॥ध्रु.॥
तुका म्हणे पावठणी । करूं स्वर्गाची निशाणी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even the gods look upon this human body with longing. How blessed we are to have been born and become servants of Vitthal. Says Tuka, let us make this life a stepping stone and plant the flag upon heaven itself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even the gods look on this human body with longing. How blessed we are to have been born and to have become servants of Vithoba. Tuka says: we will make this life a stepping stone, and plant our flag on heaven itself.
What it means
Tukaram is praising the rare gift of the human birth as the very thing the gods themselves envy, because only in it can one love and serve God. He counts himself blessed not for power or pleasure but for becoming a servant of Vithoba; the servitude is the fortune. The closing line turns the body into a means rather than an end: this life is a stepping stone, and from it he means to plant his flag even over heaven. The poem names the stakes of a human life and points it wholly toward devotion.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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