Devotion, only Panduranga
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आणिकांची स्तुति आम्हां ब्रम्हहत्या । एका वांचूनि त्या पांडुरंगा ॥१॥
आम्हां विष्णुदासां एकविध भाव । न म्हणों या देव आणिकांसि ॥ध्रु.॥
शतखंड माझी होईल रसना । जरी या वचना पालटेन ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे मज आणिका संकल्पें । अवघीं च पापें घडतील ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
To praise anyone other than Panduranga is, for us, as grave as killing a Brahmin. We devotees of Vishnu hold a single-pointed faith; we do not call any other being God. Let my tongue be split into a hundred pieces if I ever waver from this vow. Says Tuka, even the thought of turning to another would heap upon me every sin.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To praise anyone but Panduranga is, for us, as grave as killing a Brahmin. We servants of Vishnu hold a single faith; we call no other being God. Let my tongue be split into a hundred pieces if I ever turn from this vow. Tuka says: even the thought of turning to another would heap every sin upon me.
What it means
This is Tukaram's vow of single-pointed devotion. For him and his fellow devotees of Vishnu, to give praise meant for God to anyone else is no small lapse; he measures it against the gravest of sins. The wish that his tongue be torn to pieces if he ever wavers is the language of an oath, the full weight he places on faithfulness to Panduranga alone. He goes further: not even the act, but the mere thought of turning elsewhere would, for him, gather every sin. The poem names the cost of undivided devotion and his refusal to divide it.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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