Devotion, content with the form
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझिया जीवासी हे चि पैं विश्रांति । तुझे पाय चित्तीं पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
भांडवल गांठी आलें सपुरतें । समाधान चित्तें मानियेलें ॥ध्रु.॥
उदंड उच्चारें घातला पसरु । रूपावरी भरु आवडीचा॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मज भक्तीची आवडी । अभेदीं तांतडी नाहीं ह्मुण ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This alone is the rest my jiva seeks: Your feet held in my chitta, O Panduranga. The modest capital I possess is enough; my mind has accepted this contentment. I have spread out my wares in abundant utterance, loading them with the love of Your form. Says Tuka, I have a taste for devotion; I have no impatience for formless union.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
For my life this alone is rest: Your feet held in my mind, Panduranga. The little capital in my purse has turned out to be enough; my mind has settled into contentment. With abundant chanting I have spread out my wares, loading them with love for Your form. Tuka says: I have a taste for devotion; I am in no hurry for formless union.
What it means
Tukaram names where his soul finds rest and declares himself satisfied with little. The one resting place for his life is Vitthal's feet held in the heart, and he says the modest spiritual capital he has is enough, so his mind has accepted contentment instead of craving more. He pictures his practice as a merchant spreading out goods, his abundant chanting offered up and loaded with love for God's visible form. The deliberate closing choice is that he prefers devotion to the beloved form over the formless absolute, and feels no impatience to dissolve into a union without distinction; loving the Lord with a face is what he wants.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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