Devotion to saints, the servant's place
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नमावे पाय हें माझें उचित । आशीर्वादें हित तुमचिया॥1॥
कृपेचा वोरस न समाये पोटीं । ह्मणोनि उफराटीं वचनें हीं ॥ध्रु.॥
तुमची उष्टावळी हें माझें भोजन । झाडावें अंगण केरपुंजे ॥2॥
परि ऐसें पुण्य नाहीं माझें गांठीं । जेणें पडे मिठी पायांसवें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे राहे आठवण चित्तीं । ऐशी कृपा संतीं केली तुह्मीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Bowing at your feet is my rightful duty; my welfare lies in your blessings. The flood of your grace cannot be contained within my chitta, and so these words pour out in seeming impertinence. Your leftovers are my feast; sweeping the courtyard of your refuse is my honor. Yet I lack the merit to embrace your feet in a lasting hold. Says Tuka, the saints have been so kind that their memory abides forever in my chitta.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Bowing at your feet is what is right for me; my good lies in your blessing. The flood of your grace will not fit inside me, and so these words spill out as if backwards. Your leftovers are my meal; let me sweep your courtyard clean of its refuse. But I have no such merit in hand that my embrace could close around your feet. Tuka says: the memory stays fixed in my heart; such grace you saints have shown me.
What it means
Tukaram places himself at the lowest serving rung before the saints, and means it as honor, not shame. He eats their leftovers and sweeps their yard because being near them at all is his welfare. The strange, overflowing words come from grace too large to hold inside him. He confesses he lacks the merit to grasp their feet and keep them, yet says the saints gave him the one thing that lasts anyway: their memory, fixed permanently in his heart.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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