Devotion, one resolve only
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धरूनि हें आलों जीवीं । भेटी व्हावी विठोबासी॥1॥
संकल्प तो नाहीं दुजा । महाराजा विनवितों ॥ध्रु.॥
पायांवरि ठेविन भाळ । येणें सकळ पावलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे डोळेभरी । पाहिन हरी श्रीमुख ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have come holding this one resolve in my chitta: to meet Vithoba. I have no other wish, O great King; this is my humble prayer. Let me place my forehead upon Your feet; by that, everything is attained. Says Tuka, let me gaze upon Hari's blessed face to my full satisfaction.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have come holding this one resolve in my heart: to meet Vithoba. I have no other wish, O great King; this is my prayer. Let me lay my forehead on Your feet; by that, everything is gained. Tuka says: let me gaze at Hari's blessed face until my eyes are full.
What it means
This is a short, single-pointed petition stripped of everything but the one thing wanted. Tukaram names his entire purpose in coming: to meet Vithoba, and he swears there is no second wish behind it. He measures fulfillment by the smallest act, his forehead touching the feet, and says that alone is total attainment. The closing wish is for sight to satiety, to look at the face until the eyes are full. The poem's force is its narrowness: one God, one gesture, one gaze, and nothing else asked for.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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