Devotion, a plea for the gift of grace
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय बोलों सांगा । याउपरी पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
कांहीं आधारावांचून । पुढें न चले वचन ॥ध्रु.॥
वाढे ऐसा रस । कांहीं करावा सौरस ॥2॥
भक्तिभाग्यसीमा । द्यावा जोडोनियां प्रेमा॥3॥
कोरडएा उत्तरीं । नका गौरवूं वैखरी ॥4॥
करी विज्ञापना । तुका प्रसादाची दाना ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What more shall I say beyond this, O Panduranga? Without some support, words cannot proceed further. If the nectar of feeling grows, it must be given proper form. The boundary of devotion and good fortune should be offered with love joined together. Do not decorate empty speech with hollow grandeur. Says Tuka, I make this petition for the gift of Your grace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What more shall I say, tell me, beyond this, Panduranga? Without some support, the words will not go forward. Let the nectar grow; let some sweetness be made. Give the fullness of devotion and good fortune, joined with love. Do not dress up empty words with hollow grandeur. Tuka says: I make this petition for the gift of Your grace.
What it means
Tukaram admits he has reached the end of his own speech and cannot go a step further without help from God. He asks not for clever words but for the inner sap of feeling, the rasa, to swell and ripen into something real. What he wants given is love joined to devotion, the very fullness of grace, not the empty ornament of grand-sounding talk. He even warns against hollow eloquence, then states the whole prayer plainly: this is a petition, and the only thing asked for is the gift of grace itself.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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