Devotion, the knot of grace and service
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझे माथां तुझा हात । तुझे पायीं माझें चित्त ॥1॥
ऐसी पडियेली गांठी । शरीरसंबंधाची मिठी ॥ध्रु.॥
येरयेरांपाशीं । सांपडोन गेलों ऐसीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सेवा । माझी कृपा तुझी देवा॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Your hand rests upon my head, and my chitta rests at Your feet. Such is the knot that has been tied, an embrace born of this bodily bond. We have been caught up in each other in just this way. Says Tuka, mine is the service and Yours is the grace, O Lord.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Your hand rests on my head. My mind rests at your feet. Such is the knot that has been tied. It is an embrace of this bodily bond. We have been caught up in each other just so. Tuka says: mine is the service, yours is the grace, O God.
What it means
Tukaram describes the bond with God as a knot tied from both ends. God's blessing hand rests on his head while his own attention rests at God's feet, so that the two are clasped together and caught up in one another. The frame is mutuality made physical, an embrace rather than a one-way reaching. He lands it cleanly in the closing line: the relationship divides into two gifts that meet, the devotee's part is to serve and God's part is to give grace, and the knot holds because each side keeps to its own.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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