Witness, faith kept without a mantra
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं म्या वंचिला मंत्र कोणापाशीं । राहिलों जीवासीं धरूनि तो ॥1॥
विटेवरी भाव ठेवियेलें मन । पाउलें समान चिंतीतसें ॥ध्रु.॥
पावविला पार धरिला विश्वास । घालूनियां कास बळकट ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मागें पावले उद्धार । तिहीं हा आधार ठेविलासे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have not sought mantras from anyone; I have kept it alive within my own jiva. My mind is fixed upon the brick where He stands; I contemplate those two equal feet. By holding firm faith, I have been carried across, girded with an unshakable resolve. Says Tuka, those who were saved before me left this very foothold for us to stand on.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I did not go begging a mantra from anyone; I have kept it alive within my own soul. I have fixed my mind, with feeling, on the brick where he stands, contemplating those two equal feet. I was carried across because I held firm faith and girded myself with an unshakable resolve. Tuka says: those who were saved before me left this very foothold behind for us to stand on.
What it means
Tukaram is testifying to how his own deliverance came. He did not collect a secret mantra from any teacher; he kept his living faith inside himself, fixing his mind with devotion on Vitthal's feet set level on the brick at Pandhari. What carried him across was not technique but firm faith and a resolve he refused to loosen. The closing line widens it past himself: this same simple foothold, devotion to those feet, is what every saint who was saved before him left behind for later seekers to stand on. The point is that the path is already proven and available, requiring trust rather than esoteric instruction.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
More in this theme →