Total belonging, Vitthal is everything
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विठ्ठल माझा जीव विठ्ठल माझा भाव । कुळधर्म देव विठ्ठल माझा ॥1॥
विठ्ठल माझा गुरु विठ्ठल माझा तारूं । उतरील पारु भवनदीचा ॥ध्रु.॥
विठ्ठल माझी माता विठ्ठल माझा पिता । विठ्ठल चुलता बहिणी बंधु ॥2॥
विठ्ठल हे जन विठ्ठल माझें मन। सोयरा सज्जन विठ्ठल माझा ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे माझा विठ्ठल विसावा। नश्वरित गांवा जाइन त्याच्या ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Vitthal is my life, Vitthal is my devotion, Vitthal is my family deity. Vitthal is my guru, Vitthal is my raft that will carry me across the river of worldly existence. Vitthal is my mother, Vitthal is my father, Vitthal is my uncle, my sister, my brother. Vitthal is my people, Vitthal is my mind, Vitthal is my truest companion. Says Tuka, Vitthal is my resting place; I shall go to His imperishable abode.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Vitthal is my life, Vitthal is my feeling. Vitthal is my family deity, my god. Vitthal is my guru, Vitthal is my boat that will carry me across the river of the world. Vitthal is my mother, Vitthal is my father, Vitthal is my uncle, my sister, my brother. Vitthal is the people, Vitthal is my mind. Vitthal is my kinsman, my good friend. Tuka says: Vitthal is my rest. I will go to His undying town.
What it means
Tukaram names everything a life is held together by, family, teacher, parents, kin, friends, even his own mind, and assigns every single one to Vitthal. It is not that Vitthal stands beside these things; Vitthal has replaced them all and become each in turn. The river-crossing boat names the stakes: this total belonging is also his only passage out of worldly existence. The poem closes in rest, not striving: having made God his all, he is sure of going to God's imperishable abode.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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