Adoration, dust of the devotees' feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जे गाती अखंड विठ्ठलाचे गीत । त्यांचे पायीं चित्त ठेवीन मी ॥1॥
जयांसी आवडे विठ्ठलाचें नाम । ते माझे परम प्राणसखे ॥ध्रु.॥
जयांसी विठ्ठल आवडे लोचनीं । त्यांचें पायवणी स्वीकारीन ॥2॥
विठ्ठलासी जिहीं दिला सर्व भाव । त्यांच्या पायीं ठाव मागईन ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे रज होईन चरणींचा । ह्मणविती त्यांचा हरिचे दास ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those who sing the songs of Vitthal without ceasing, I will place my chitta at their feet. Those who love the Name of Vitthal are my dearest friends and companions. Those whose eyes delight in seeing Vitthal, I will accept the dust of their feet. Those who have surrendered everything to Vitthal, I will beg for a place at their feet. Says Tuka, let me become the dust of their feet, those who are called the servants of Hari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Those who sing Vitthal's song without stopping, at their feet I will set my mind. Those who love the Name of Vitthal are my dearest friends, dear as my life. Those whose eyes delight in seeing Vitthal, I will take the water that has washed their feet. Those who have given their whole heart to Vitthal, I will beg for a place at their feet. Tuka says: let me become the dust at the feet of those who are called the servants of Hari.
What it means
Tukaram pours out his love not at God directly but at God's devotees, and ranks them as the people who matter most to him. Those who never stop singing of Vitthal, who love the Name, whose eyes feast on Vitthal, who have surrendered everything to him: these he calls his dearest companions, closer than life. He lowers himself before them with deliberate humility, asking to set his mind at their feet, to accept even the water that washed their feet, and to beg for a place there. The final wish is the smallest one possible, to become the dust at the feet of those known as the servants of Hari, treating nearness to the devotees as the highest thing he could want.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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