Devotion, the litany of the Name Vitthal
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विठ्ठला रे तुझे वणिनतां गुणवाद । विठ्ठला रे दग्ध जालीं पापें ॥1॥
विठ्ठला रे तुझें पाहातां श्रीमुख । विठ्ठला रे सुख जालें नयना ॥ध्रु.॥
विठ्ठला रे तुज देतां आलिंगन । विठ्ठला तनमन निवाल्या बाहएा ॥2॥
विठ्ठला रे तुझी ऐकतां कीिर्त्त । विठ्ठल हे विश्रांति पावले स्मरणें ॥3॥
विठ्ठला रे तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे देहभाव । विठ्ठला जीवीं पाव धरितां गेला ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O Vitthal, in describing Your virtues, O Vitthal, all my sins are burned away. O Vitthal, seeing Your divine face, O Vitthal, my eyes are filled with bliss. O Vitthal, embracing You, O Vitthal, my arms and body and mind are cooled. O Vitthal, hearing Your glory, O Vitthal, my being finds rest through Your remembrance. Says Tuka's brother, O Vitthal, when I held Your feet, all sense of bodily self dissolved.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
O Vitthal, in telling Your virtues, O Vitthal, my sins are burned away. O Vitthal, looking on Your blessed face, O Vitthal, my eyes are filled with joy. O Vitthal, in embracing You, O Vitthal, my body and mind and arms are cooled. O Vitthal, in hearing Your glory, O Vitthal, my being finds rest through remembering You. Tuka's brother says: O Vitthal, when I held Your feet, all sense of being a body slipped away.
What it means
The poem is built as a litany, each line opening and closing on the name Vitthal until the name itself becomes the act of worship. Tukaram, speaking here as Tuka's brother, moves through the senses one by one: speaking the Lord's virtues burns sins, seeing His face delights the eyes, the embrace cools the whole body, hearing His glory gives the soul rest. The progression climbs from outer acts to inner stillness. It ends at the feet, where the last and deepest thing happens: holding them, the very sense of being a separate body dissolves, which is the whole aim the senses were leading toward.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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