Devotion, the great reversal
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझे पाय तुझी डोई । ऐसें करिं गा भाक देई ॥1॥
पाहतां तंव उफराटें । घडे तई भाग्य मोठें ॥ध्रु.॥
बहु साधन मोलाच। यासी जोडा दुजें कैचें ॥2॥
नका अनमानूं विठ्ठला । तुका ह्मणे धडा जाला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Place my feet upon Your head; give me such a promise. Looking closely, it appears reversed, yet in that reversal great fortune is found. This is the most precious of all spiritual practices; what else could match it? Says Tuka, do not hesitate, O Vitthal; the lesson has been learned.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Set my feet upon Your head; give me this promise. Looked at plainly it seems upside down, yet when it happens great fortune comes. Of all the costly practices, what other can match this one? Do not hesitate, Vitthal. Tuka says: the lesson is settled.
What it means
Tukaram asks for something that looks backward: that God place the devotee's feet on His own head. He admits the request seems reversed, since it is the worshipper who normally bows, yet he insists this very reversal is where the greatest fortune lies. It is, he says, the most precious of all spiritual practices, beyond price and beyond rival. He presses Vitthal not to waver, declaring the matter understood and decided: in true love God lowers Himself to lift the devotee.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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