Devotion, trembling before the holy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पािळतों वचन । परि बहु भीतें मन ॥1॥
करितें पायांशीं सलगी । नये बैसों अंगसंगीं ॥ध्रु.॥
जोडोनियां कर । उभें असावें समोर ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे संत । तुह्मी मी बहु पतित ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I uphold the promise, yet my chitta trembles greatly. I may approach Your feet with familiarity, but I cannot presume to sit beside You. With joined hands, I should stand before You at attention. Says Tuka, you saints are exalted, while I am deeply fallen.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I keep my promise, yet my heart trembles greatly. I may come close to Your feet with some familiarity, but I cannot dare to sit beside You. With hands folded, I should stand before You at attention. Tuka says: you saints are exalted, and I am deeply fallen.
What it means
Tukaram holds together nearness and awe, which is the heart of true reverence. He is faithful to his vow, yet his heart shakes, because intimacy with the holy is not the same as presumption. He may approach the feet familiarly, like a child, but he will not take the liberty of sitting as an equal; the right posture is to stand with folded hands, attentive. The closing line states the gap honestly: the saints are exalted and he counts himself fallen. The humility is not self-loathing but the proper sense of distance that keeps love from curdling into casualness.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →