Devotion, the mind fixed and unmoving
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अचळ न चळे ऐसें जालें मन । धरूनि निज खुण राहिलोंसें ॥1॥
आवडी बैसली गुणांची अंतरीं । करूं धणीवरी सेवन तें ॥ध्रु.॥
एकविध भाव नव्हे अभावना । आणिकिया गुणां न मिळवे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझे पडिलें आहारीं । ध्यान विटेवरी ठाकले तें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My mind has become immovable and unshakable. Holding fast to my own inner truth, I remain. A deep love for His qualities has settled within my chitta; let me partake of them to my full satisfaction. My single-pointed devotion does not turn into faithlessness, nor does it mix with any other quality. Says Tuka, my mind has been captivated; my meditation is fixed upon Him who stands upon the brick.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My mind has become still; it does not move. I have caught the inner sign and I stay there. A love for his qualities has settled in my heart; let me drink them in to the full. My devotion has one direction only; it does not slip into doubt, and it does not mix with anything else. Tuka says: I have been taken captive. My meditation rests on him who stands on the brick.
What it means
Tukaram is describing a mind that has finally come to rest. Once it wandered; now it holds fast to the inner mark and will not move from it. What holds it there is love, a settled relish for God's qualities that he wants to drink without limit. He names the quality of this devotion: it is single, undivided, neither thinning into unbelief nor diluting itself with other objects. The poem ends on its cause: his attention has been captured by Vitthal standing on the brick at Pandhari, and meditation now simply stays there on its own.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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