Union, the soul stamped on Shiva
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुझ्या रूपें माझी काया भरों द्यावी पंढरीराया । दर्पणींची छाया एका रूपें भिन्नत्व ॥1॥
सुख पडिलें साटवण सत्ता वेचे शनें शनें । अडचणीचे कोन चारी मार्ग उगवले ॥ध्रु.॥
वसो डोळ्यांची बाहुली कवळे भिन्न छाया आली । कृष्णांजन चाली नव्हे प्रति माघारी ॥2॥
जीव ठसावला शिवें मना आलें तेथें जावें । फांटा पडिला नांवें तुका ह्मणे खंडलें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let my body be filled with Your form, O King of Pandhari. Like a reflection in a mirror, one form appears as two, yet there is no real difference. The stored-up joy spends itself slowly through authority. The four paths of life have opened up and the difficult corners have been cleared. Like the pupil of the eye that embraces every shadow that falls upon it, once the collyrium of Krishna is applied, there is no turning back. Says Tuka, the jiva has been imprinted upon Shiva; wherever the mind wishes, there it may go. The branch has broken off in name only; in truth, all division is destroyed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let my body be filled with your form, O King of Pandhari. Like a reflection in a mirror, one form looks like two, yet there is no real difference. The stored-up joy spends itself slowly. The four paths of life have opened, and the difficult corners are cleared. Like the pupil of the eye that takes in every shadow falling on it, once the dark salve of Krishna is applied, there is no turning back. Tuka says: the jiva has been pressed into Shiva. Wherever the mind wishes to go, there it may go. The branch has broken off in name only; truly, all division is gone.
What it means
Tukaram prays to be so filled with God's form that his own body becomes its mirror, where one reality only seems to split into two. He insists the doubling is appearance, not difference: like an image in a mirror, there is no second thing there. The eye is his other image, the pupil receiving every shadow once the dark collyrium of Krishna coats it, and from that there is no going back. The strong claim lands at the end: the individual soul has been stamped into Shiva, the absolute, so completely that the mind is now free to roam without danger. The separation between soul and God remains only as a word, while in truth every division has been destroyed.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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