Devotion, the secret confided
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आवडी न पुरे मायबापापासीं । घडों का येविसीं सकईल ॥1॥
होईल नेमलें आपुलिया काळें । आलीयाचा बळें आघ्रो उरे ॥ध्रु.॥
जाणविलें तेथे थोडें एकवेळा । सकळ ही कळा सवाौत्तमीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे निवेदिलें गुहए गुज । आतां तुझी तुज सकळ चिंता ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The love for my divine parents can never be fully expressed. Can it ever be truly conveyed? What is destined will come at its appointed time, and the longing of past encounters remains. Once a little is revealed at that place, all arts find their perfection. Says Tuka, I have confided the innermost secret. Now all concern is Yours alone.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The love for my mother and father, God, can never be fully spoken. Can it ever truly be conveyed? What is fixed will come in its own time, and the longing of past meetings stays. Once a little is shown there, all the arts find their fullness in the highest. Tuka says: I have told the innermost secret. Now all the worry is yours alone.
What it means
Tukaram addresses God as mother and father and admits that love this deep outruns any words. He resigns himself to time: whatever is destined will come when it is meant to, while the ache left by earlier nearness keeps burning. He says that once even a little is revealed in that place, every skill and faculty reaches its perfection in the highest. The turn is in the last line: having confided his deepest secret, he hands the whole burden over to God, making God responsible for him. The poem moves from inexpressible love to total handing-over.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →