Devotion, contentment in distance
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
असा जी सोंवळें । आहां तैसे चि निराळे ॥1॥
आह्मीं नयों तुमच्या वाटा । काय लटिका चि ताठा ॥ध्रु.॥
चिंतन चि पुरे । काय सलगी सवें धुरे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा । नका नावडे ते सेवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Remain pure, O Lord; stay apart as You are. I shall not tread upon Your path; why this empty stubbornness? Contemplation alone is enough; why demand the closeness of familiar company? Says Tuka, O God, do not render a service that is unwelcome to You.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Stay pure, O Lord; remain apart, just as you are. I will not walk on your path. Why this empty stubbornness? Contemplation alone is enough for me. Why should I demand the closeness of familiar company? Tuka says: O God, do not let me give you a service you do not want.
What it means
Tukaram speaks with a striking humility that lets God keep his distance. He tells the Lord to remain pure and apart, and refuses to force his way onto God's own path, calling such insistence empty stubbornness. For him, simply holding God in contemplation is enough; he will not press for the intimacy of being a familiar companion. The closing line turns it into a prayer: he asks not to render any service that is unwelcome to God. The devotion here measures itself not by what the devotee wants to claim, but by what is acceptable to the Lord.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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