Devotion, serving for nothing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मोल वेचूनियां धुंडिती सेवका । आह्मी तरी फुका मागों बळें ॥1॥
नसतां जवळी हित फार करूं । जीव भाव धरूं तुझ्या पायीं ॥ध्रु.॥
नेदूं भोग आह्मी आपुल्या शरीरा । तुह्मांसी दातारा व्हावें म्हूण ॥2॥
कीर्ती तुझी करूं आमुचे सायास । तूं का रे उदास पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज काय मागों आह्मी । फुकाचे कां ना भी ह्मणसी ना ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
People spend money searching for servants, while I offer myself to You for nothing and ask forcefully for the privilege. Even without being near You, I will work earnestly for Your good, placing my life and devotion at Your feet. I will not give this body the pleasures it craves, so that You, O generous Lord, may be pleased. I will spread Your glory through my own effort; why then are You indifferent, O Panduranga? Says Tuka, what should we ask of You? Why do You not at least say no to what is given freely?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
People spend money to find servants; I offer myself to You for free, and I ask for it forcefully. Even when I am not near You, I will work hard for Your good and lay my life and love at Your feet. I will not give my body the pleasures it wants, so that You, generous Lord, may be pleased. I will spread Your glory by my own effort; why then are You indifferent, Panduranga? Tuka says: what should we even ask of You? Why will You not at least say no to what is offered free?
What it means
Tukaram presses a loving complaint at God. Others have to pay to get servants, but he comes offering himself for nothing, and even demands the privilege of serving. He promises to labor for God's glory even from a distance, to set his whole life and devotion at the feet, and to deny his own body its pleasures only to please his generous Lord. Having given all this freely, he protests the silence: why does Panduranga stay so unmoved? The closing line turns the hurt into wit; he is not even asking for a reward, so the least God could do is acknowledge the free offering instead of ignoring it. Under the teasing is the ache of a devotee who wants to be received.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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