Devotion, the mind too small to praise
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मतिविण काय वणूप तुझें ध्यान । जेथें पडिलें मौन्य वेदश्रुती ॥1॥
करूनि गोजिरा आपुलिये मती । धरियेलें चित्तीं चरणकमळ ॥ध्रु.॥
सुखाचें ओतिलें पाहों ते श्रीमुख । तेणें हरे भूक तान माझी ॥2॥
रसना गोडावली ओव्या गातां गीत । पावलेंसे चित्त समाधान ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे माझी दृिष्ट चरणांवरी । पाउलें गोजिरीं कुंकुमाचीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Without sufficient intellect, how shall I describe Your meditation, on which even the Vedas fall silent? Yet making it as beautiful as my small mind allows, I have enshrined Your lotus feet in my chitta. I gaze upon Your blessed face from which all sweetness flows, and by that sight my hunger and thirst are quenched. My tongue has been sweetened by singing Your verses and songs, and my mind has found its contentment. Says Tuka, my gaze rests upon Your feet, those beautiful feet tinged with saffron.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Without enough mind, how can I describe your meditation, before which the Vedas and the scriptures fall silent? So, making it as lovely as my small mind can, I have held your lotus feet in my heart. I look on your blessed face, poured out of joy, and by it my hunger and thirst are taken away. My tongue is sweetened singing your verses and songs, and my mind has found its rest. Tuka says: my gaze rests on your feet, those lovely feet touched with saffron.
What it means
Tukaram begins by confessing his smallness: even the Vedas go silent before God, so how could his poor intellect describe him. He does not let that stop devotion. With the little mind he has, he makes the contemplation beautiful and enshrines God's lotus feet in his heart. Gazing on the blessed face that pours out joy stills his hunger and thirst, and singing the songs sweetens his tongue and settles his mind. The poem closes simply and concretely, with his eyes resting on the saffron-touched feet, showing that love, not learning, is what completes the worship.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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