Devotion, song and dance as the only practice
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुख वाटे परी वर्म । धर्माधर्म न कळे ॥1॥
गायें नाचें एवढें जाणें । विठ्ठल ह्मणे निर्लज्ज ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघें माझें एवढें धन । साधन ही सकळ ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे, पायां पडें । तुमच्या कोडें संतांच्या ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I feel joy, yet I cannot discern what is right from wrong. All I know is to sing and dance and shamelessly cry out Vitthal. This is my entire wealth and all my spiritual practice. Says Tuka, I bow at your feet with delight, O saints.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I feel joy, but I cannot tell right from wrong. All I know is to sing and dance and cry out Vitthal, shameless. This is all my wealth; this is my whole practice. Tuka says: I fall at your feet with delight, O saints.
What it means
Tukaram makes a confession that doubles as a boast. He admits he has no grasp of dharma and adharma, the fine sorting of right from wrong; what he has instead is joy, and one thing he can do: sing, dance, and call Vitthal's name without shame. That singing is not a part of his path but the whole of it, his entire wealth and his only spiritual practice. He ends bowing gladly at the saints' feet, content that this simple love is enough.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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