Devotion, the self undone by the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझिया मनाची बैसली आवडी । अवसान घडी एकी नेघे ॥1॥
पाय चित्तीं रूप डोळांच राहिलें । चिंतने गोविलें मुख सदा ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघियांचा जाला विसर हा मागें । वेध हा श्रीरंगें लावियेला ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कानीं आइकली मात । तो चि जाला घात जीवपणा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My chitta's desire has settled so firmly that it will not yield even a single moment's pause. His feet remain in my mind, His form stays in my eyes, and my mouth is always occupied with thoughts of Him. All memory of everything else has fallen away; this spell has been cast by Shrirang Himself. Says Tuka, the moment the ear heard the word, the sense of a separate self was slain.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My mind has settled into one desire. It will not take even a moment's pause. His feet are in my mind, his form stays in my eyes, my mouth is always busy with thoughts of him. Every memory of everything else has dropped away behind me. This spell was cast by Shrirang himself. Tuka says: the moment my ear heard the word, that was the end of my sense of a separate self.
What it means
Tukaram describes a mind that has fixed on one love so completely that it will not rest for an instant. Feet, form, and speech are all taken up with God, until everything else simply falls away behind him. He credits this not to his own effort but to God, Shrirang, who cast the spell. The last line lands the radical claim: the instant the ear caught the holy word, the sense of being a separate, private self was slain. The Name does not merely comfort the ego; it ends it.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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