Adoration, the vow to protect devotees
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पूवाअहूनि बहु भक्त सांभािळले । नाहीं अव्हेरिले दास कोणी ॥1॥
जेजे शरण आले तेते आपंगिले । पवाडे विठ्ठले ऐसे तुझे ॥ध्रु.॥
मिरवे चरणीं ऐसीये गोष्टीचें । भक्तसांभाळाचें ब्रीद ऐसें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मांसाटी येणें रूपा । माझ्या मायबापा पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
From ancient times You have cared for many devotees. You have never rejected any servant. Whoever came to You for refuge, You embraced. Such are Your glorious deeds, O Vitthal. The very hallmark of Your feet is this: the vow to protect Your devotees. Says Tuka, it is for our sake that You have taken this form, O Panduranga, my mother and father.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
From of old You have cared for many devotees. You have never cast off any servant. Whoever came to You for refuge, You took them up. Such are Your great deeds, O Vitthal. This is what shines at Your feet, the standing vow to protect Your devotees. Tuka says: it is for our sake that You have come into this form, my mother and father, Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram is praising God by reciting His track record and then claiming a place in it. The argument is from history: across all time no one who took refuge was ever turned away, and this reliability is the very mark of Vitthal's feet, a standing vow to guard those who are His. The closing line lands the personal stake: the form standing on the brick at Pandhari is not for God's own sake but for ours, which is why Tukaram can call him mother and father. The praise is also a quiet claim on that protection.
The Nature of God
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