Devotion, abandoned worship beyond rule
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गातों नाचतों आनंदें । टाळघागरिया छंदें ॥1॥
तुझी तुज पुढें देवा । नेणों भावे कैसी सेवा ॥ध्रु.॥
नेणों ताळ घात मात । भलते सवां पाय हात ॥2॥
लाज नाहीं शंका । प्रेम घाला ह्मणे तुका ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I sing and dance in bliss, carried by the rhythm of cymbals and drums. What is Yours I place before You, O Lord; I know no other form of worship. I know neither rhythm nor beat nor measure; my hands and feet move as they will. Says Tuka, there is no shame, no doubt; let there be nothing but pure love.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I sing and I dance in joy, carried away by the rhythm of cymbals and drums. What is Yours I lay before You, O Lord; I do not know any other way to serve. I know nothing of beat or measure or proper time; my hands and feet move however they will. There is no shame in me, no doubt. Tuka says: let there be nothing but pure love.
What it means
Tukaram describes worship that has dropped all expertise and self-consciousness. He sings and dances to the cymbals and drums, offering God what is already God's, because he knows no other service than this. He confesses he keeps no rhythm or correct timing and lets his limbs move freely, refusing to make worship into a performance to be judged. The point lands in the last line: he has put away shame and doubt, and asks only that love itself fill the act. The measure of devotion, he says, is not skill but the pure love poured into it.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →