Devotion, claiming the seat at the feast
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
झड मारोनियां बैसलों पंगती । उठवितां फजिती दातयाची ॥1॥
काय तें उचित तुह्मां कां न कळे । कां हो झांका डोळे पांडुरंगा ॥ध्रु.॥
घेईन इच्छेचें मागोनि सकळ । नाहीं नव्हे काळ बोलायाचा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जालों माना अधिकारी । नाहीं लोक परी लाज देवा ॥3॥
हे चि ओळख तयाची । खूण जाणा अभक्ताची ॥ध्रु.॥
ज्याची विठ्ठल नाहीं ठावा । त्याचा संग न करावा ॥2॥
नाम न म्हणे ज्याचें तोंड । तें चि चर्मकाचें कुंड ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे त्याचे दिवशीं। रांड गेली महारापाशीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have sat down firmly at the feast, uninvited. To remove me now would disgrace the host. Is that fitting? Do You not see this, O Panduranga? Why do You shut Your eyes? I will ask for everything my chitta desires; now is not the time to say no. Says Tuka, I have earned the right to claim what is mine; it is not the people I am ashamed of, but You, O God. This is the mark of the non-devotee: one who does not know Vitthal is not worthy of association. A mouth that does not utter the Name is like a pit of tanned leather. Says Tuka, that person's fortune is like a woman who has eloped from her home.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have sat down firmly at the feast, uninvited. To make me rise now would shame the host. Is that fitting? Why do You not see it? Why do You shut Your eyes, Panduranga? I will ask for everything my heart wants. This is no time to say no. Tuka says: I have earned the right to my share. It is not the people I am ashamed before, it is You, God. This is how you know him: it is the mark of the non-devotee. One who does not know Vitthal, do not keep his company. A mouth that does not say the Name is only a pit of tanned hide. Tuka says: that one's day is ruined, like a wife who has run off.
What it means
Tukaram presses his claim on God like a guest who has taken a seat at the feast and will not be turned out, since throwing him out would disgrace the host himself. The boldness is the devotee's privilege: he asks for everything and says now is no time for God to refuse, and his only shame is before God, not before people. The poem then turns to the opposite kind of person, marking the non-devotee: keep no company with one who does not know Vitthal. A mouth that never speaks the Name he calls a mere pit of raw hide, dead and useless, and such a life he counts as ruined. The contrast is the lesson: cling to God shamelessly, or let the Name go and become hollow.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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