Devotion, you are my only kin
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तूं माझी माउली तूं माझी साउली । पाहातों वाटुली पांडुरंगे ॥1॥
तूं मज येकुला वडील धाकुला । तूं मज आपुला सोयरा जीव ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जीव तुजपाशीं असे । तुझियानें ओस सर्व दिशा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You are my mother and You are my shade. I watch the road for You, O Panduranga. You are my only elder and my only younger. You are my own dear kinsman and the life of my jiva. Says Tuka, my life resides with You. Without You, all directions stand empty.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You are my mother. You are my shade. I keep watching the road for you, Panduranga. You are my only elder and my only younger. You are my own dear kinsman, the life of my life. Tuka says: my life rests with you. Without you, every direction stands empty.
What it means
This is a poem of total belonging, where God is the whole of one's family. Tukaram calls Panduranga his mother and his cool shade, and pictures himself waiting at the roadside for him to come. He hands God every relation at once: elder and younger, dear kinsman, the very life within his life. Nothing of his is held back from this one bond. And so without God present, his life has gone elsewhere with him, and the world in all directions is simply empty.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →