Devotion within worldly work, never separate from God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
करीं धंदा परि आवडती पाय । प्रीती सांगों काय नेणां देवा ॥1॥
रूप डोळां देखें सदा सर्वकाळ । संपादितों आळ प्रपंचाचा ॥ध्रु.॥
नेमून ठेविली कारया कारणीं । आमुचिये वाणी गुण वदे ॥2॥
मनासीं उत्कंठा दर्शनाचा हेवा । नाहीं लोभ जीवा धन धान्य ॥3॥
उसंतितों पंथ वेठीचिया परी । जीवनसूत्र दोरीपाशीं ओढ ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसें करितों निर्वाण । जीव तुह्मां भिन्न नाहीं माझा ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I go about my worldly tasks, yet my chitta cherishes Your feet. How can I describe my love to You, O God? I behold Your form with my eyes at all times, even while settling the affairs of the world. My speech has been appointed solely to sing Your virtues. My mind is restless with longing for Your darshan; I have no greed for wealth or grain. I trudge the path of duty like forced labor, but the pull of my jiva is toward You alone. Says Tuka, this is how I live out my days; my life is not separate from You.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I go about my work, yet it is Your feet I love. How can I tell You my love, O God? I see Your form with my eyes always, all the time, even while I settle the affairs of the world. My speech has been given only to sing Your virtues. My mind is restless with longing for Your darshan; my soul has no greed for wealth or grain. I trudge the path of duty like forced labor, but the pull of my life is toward You alone. Tuka says: this is how I live out my days; my life is not separate from You.
What it means
Tukaram describes a devotion carried on inside ordinary householder life, not apart from it. His hands do the world's work and settle its affairs, but his attention stays fixed on God's feet and form the whole time. He treats his very voice as set aside for one use, to sing God's praise, and he says plainly that he has no hunger for money or grain. The world's duties he does like a man under forced labor, going through them while his heart pulls elsewhere. The closing line is the claim the rest builds to: his life is not a thing separate from God at all.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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