Devotion, the thread tied to the feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पायांपासीं चित्त । तेणें भेटी अखंडित ॥1॥
असे खेळे भलते ठायीं । प्रेमसूत्रदोरी पायीं ॥ध्रु.॥
केलेंसे जतन । मुळीं काय तें वचन ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सर्वजाणा । ठायीं विचारावें मना॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When the mind remains at the feet, the meeting becomes unbroken. Let the soul play wherever it will; the thread of love is tied to the feet. What was the promise guarded at the root? Says Tuka, O all-knowing one, let the mind settle this within itself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Keep the mind at the feet. Then the meeting never breaks. Let the soul play wherever it likes; the thread of love is tied to the feet. What was the promise kept at the root? Tuka says: O all-knowing one, let the mind settle this within itself.
What it means
Tukaram describes a love that holds even while life keeps moving. He asks that the mind stay fixed at God's feet, because that single fixity is what makes the meeting unbroken; nothing can interrupt it. The soul may go and play wherever it wishes, since the deeper attachment, the thread of love, is already knotted to the feet and will not come loose. He then turns the question inward: there was a promise made at the very root of things, and rather than argue it out, the mind should quietly settle the matter for itself.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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