Exhortation, the feet of Vithoba and a tulsi bead
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मां देणें धरा सांगतों तें कानीं । चिंता पाय मनीं विठोबाचे ॥1॥
तेणें माझें चित्त होय समाधान । विलास मिष्टान्न न लगे सोनें ॥ध्रु.॥
व्रत एकादशी दारीं वृंदावन । कंठीं ल्या रे लेणें तुळसीमाळा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे त्याचे घरींची उष्टावळी । मज ते दिवाळी दसरा सण ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Listen and keep what I say in your ears: fix your mind on the feet of Vithoba. By that alone my chitta finds contentment. I need no delicacies, no luxuries, no gold. Observe the Ekadashi fast. Plant a tulsi shrine at your door. Wear the garland of tulsi beads around your neck. Says Tuka, the sacred leftovers from His house are my Diwali, my Dasara, my festival.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Take this gift I give you; keep it in your ears: hold the feet of Vithoba in your mind. By that alone my heart is at peace. I want no luxuries, no rich sweets, no gold. Keep the Ekadashi fast. Set a tulsi shrine at your door. Wear the garland of tulsi beads around your neck. Tuka says: the leftovers from his house are my Diwali, my Dasara, my festival.
What it means
Tukaram hands the listener a simple rule of life and tells them to keep it close. The whole of it is to fix the mind on Vithoba's feet, and that alone, he says, settles his own heart. He turns down wealth, fine food, and gold, and in their place names plain devotional practices: keep the Ekadashi fast, plant a tulsi at the door, wear the tulsi-bead garland. The closing line shows where his joy actually lies: the consecrated leftovers from God's house are, to him, the equal of every grand festival, Diwali and Dasara together.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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