Devotion, service made ever-new
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वाढवावा पुढें आणीक प्रकार । एक चि तें फार रुचि नेदी ॥1॥
निंच नवें लेणें देह हा पवाडा । पालट रोकडा वरावरी ॥ध्रु.॥
दिसे शोभिवंत सेवेनें सेवक । स्वामीची ते लोकत्रयीं कीतिन ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आजी पाववा संतोष । करुनि कीतिनघोष नाचईन ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let the ways of service grow ever richer; a single mode becomes stale and loses its flavor. Let this body be adorned with ever-new ornaments, transforming it from the surface inward. The servant shines with beauty through service, and the master's fame resounds through all three worlds. Says Tuka, grant me satisfaction today, and I will dance proclaiming Your glory.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let the ways of service keep growing. One single way grows stale; it loses its taste. Let this body wear new ornaments each time, like a fresh tale told again. Change it on the surface, change it through and through. The servant looks beautiful through his service. And the master's fame rings out through all three worlds. Tuka says: give me joy today. I will dance and shout your glory aloud.
What it means
Tukaram is asking that devotion never settle into routine. He wants the modes of service to multiply, because a single fixed form goes flat and loses its savor; the body itself should keep putting on new ornaments of praise. The point he lands is that the servant and the master rise together: a servant grows beautiful in serving, and the master's fame spreads through all three worlds. So this is not restlessness for its own sake; it is the prayer that loving God stay alive and grow, ending in the only fitting response, to dance and cry out his glory.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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