Devotion, rest at Vithoba's feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न करीं रे मना कांहीं च कल्पना । चिंतीं या चरणां विठोबाच्या ॥1॥
येथें सुखाचिया रासी । पुढें ठाव नाहीं कल्पनेसी॥ध्रु.॥
सुखाचें ओतिलें साजिरें श्रीमुख । शोक मोह दुःख पाहाता नाहीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येथें होईल विसांवा । तुटतील हांवा पुढिलिया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Do not, O mind, entertain any idle fancy; contemplate only the feet of Vithoba. Here lie heaps of joy, and beyond this, there is no room for imagination. His blessed face is cast in the mold of pure bliss; sorrow, delusion, and suffering vanish at the sight of it. Says Tuka, here you shall find true rest, and all future cravings shall be cut away.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not, O my mind, spin any idle fancy. Think only of these feet, the feet of Vithoba. Here are heaps of joy; beyond this there is no place left for imagining. His lovely face is poured from pure bliss itself; look on it, and sorrow, delusion, and pain are not even there. Tuka says: here you will find your rest, and every craving still ahead of you will be cut away.
What it means
Tukaram speaks to his own restless mind, telling it to stop wandering into imagined futures and settle on one thing: the feet of Vithoba. He describes that resting place as already heaped with joy, so full that imagination has nowhere further to go. The face of God is bliss made visible, and in its sight the three torments of the mind, grief, delusion, and suffering, simply do not appear. The promise is rest now and freedom from craving ahead: the longings that would otherwise pull the mind forward are cut off at the source once it stops here. It is an instruction to the wandering attention to come home.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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