Devotion, the dog at the door
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
श्वानाचियापरी लोळें तुझ्या दारीं । भुंकों हरिहरि नाम तुझें ॥1॥
भुंकीं उठीं बैसें न वजायें वेगळा । लुडबुडीं गोपाळा पायांपाशीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मां वर्म आहे ठावें । मागेन ते द्यावें प्रेमसुख ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Like a dog I roll at Your doorstep, barking Your name, Hari, Hari. I sit, I rise, I bark, never straying from Your feet, O Gopala, tumbling about at Your feet. Says Tuka, I know the secret well: whatever I ask, You must grant me the joy of love.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Like a dog I roll at your door, barking your name, Hari, Hari. I bark, I get up, I sit down, I never leave your side. I tumble about at your feet, Gopala. Tuka says: I know the secret well. Whatever I ask, you must give me: the joy of love.
What it means
Tukaram takes the lowest image he can find and makes it his glory. He is a dog at God's doorstep, rolling, barking the Name, never straying from the feet of Gopala. Far from shame, this is total belonging: the dog stays because it has nowhere else it wants to be. Then he names the leverage he holds, the secret he claims to know: a creature this devoted can demand one thing and be sure of it, the sweetness of love itself. The humility and the boldness are the same move.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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