Devotion, the company of Vitthal's people
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ते माझे सोयरे सज्जन सांगाती । पाय आठविती विठोबाचे ॥१॥
येरा मानी विधि पाळणापुरतें । देवाचीं तीं भूतें म्हणोनियां ॥ध्रु.॥
सर्वभावें जालों वैष्णवांचा दास । करीन त्यांच्या आस उच्छिष्टाची ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जैसे मानती हरिदास । तैशी नाहीं आस आणिकांची ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those are my true kin, my noble companions, who remember the feet of Vitthal. As for the others, I regard them only as much as one must; they are God's creatures, after all. With my whole being, I have become a servant of the Vaishnavas; I long even for their leftovers. Says Tuka, I hold no desire for anyone else the way I cherish the devotees of Hari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Those are my true kin, my noble companions, who keep remembering the feet of Vithoba. The rest I regard only as far as duty asks, since they too are God's creatures. With my whole heart I have become a servant of the Vaishnavas; I long even for the food they leave behind. Tuka says: I hold no desire for anyone else the way I cherish the servants of Hari.
What it means
Tukaram redraws kinship around devotion rather than blood. The people who remember Vithoba's feet are his real family and friends; everyone else he treats with the bare courtesy duty requires, honoring them only as fellow creatures of God. His longing runs the other way entirely, toward the Vaishnavas, to whom he gives himself so completely that he craves even their leftovers as a kind of grace. The claim is that no ordinary attachment can match the love he holds for the servants of Hari. The verse names where his heart actually lives.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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