Devotion, only Vitthal endures
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वर्णावी ते थोरी एका विठ्ठलाची । कीर्ती मानवाची सांगों नये ॥1॥
उदंड चि जाले जन्मोनियां मेले । होऊनियां गेले राव रंक ॥ध्रु.॥
त्यांचें नाम कोणी नेघे चराचरीं । साही वेद चारी वणिनताती ॥2॥
अक्षय अढळ चळेना ढळेना । तया नारायणा ध्यात जावें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तुझी विठ्ठल चित्तीं ध्यातां । जन्ममरण व्यथा दूर होती ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One should praise the greatness of Vitthal alone; the fame of mere mortals is not worth telling. Countless people have been born and have died, kings and paupers have come and gone. No one in all creation takes their name, yet the six scriptures and four Vedas ceaselessly praise the Lord. He is imperishable, immovable, never wavering, never falling. One should meditate upon that Narayana. Says Tuka, O Vitthal, when one contemplates You, the affliction of birth and death retreats far away.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Praise the greatness of Vitthal alone; the fame of mere men is not worth telling. Countless people have been born and have died; kings and beggars have come and gone. No one in all creation now says their names, yet the six scriptures and the four Vedas praise the Lord without end. He is unfading, unshakable; he never moves, never falls. Meditate on that Narayana. Tuka says: when you hold you in your mind, O Vitthal, the pain of birth and death goes far away.
What it means
Tukaram weighs human glory against the one thing that lasts. Kings and paupers alike are born, die, and are forgotten; no one in the world still speaks their names. Against this he sets Vitthal, whom the Vedas and scriptures never stop praising, because he alone is imperishable and unmoving, never rising to fall again. The lesson follows from the contrast: spend your attention on what passes and you pass with it, but meditate on Narayana, who endures, and you are joined to what endures. He ends with the promise that holding Vitthal in the mind carries the very pain of birth and death away.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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