Devotion, the heart over the stone
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मूतिनमंत देव नांदतो पंढरी । येर ते दिगांतरीं प्रतिमारूप॥1॥
जाउनियां वना करावें कीर्तन । मानुनी पाषाण विठ्ठलरूप ॥2॥
तुका मुख्य पाहिजे भाव । भावापासीं देव शीघ्र उभा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The living God dwells in Pandhari; elsewhere He exists only as images in distant lands. One may go to the forest and do kirtan, worshipping a stone as Vitthal's form. Says Tuka, what truly matters is sincere devotion. Where there is genuine feeling, God stands at once.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The living God dwells in Pandhari; elsewhere he is only an image set in distant places. You may go off to the forest and do kirtan, taking a stone for Vitthal's form. Tuka says: what is needed above all is feeling. Where the feeling is, God stands there at once.
What it means
Tukaram seems to rank places of worship, the living God at Pandhari above the mere images elsewhere, but he is leading somewhere else. Even a stone in a forest can be taken as Vitthal, he allows, and then he tells you what actually decides the matter. The one thing that counts is bhava, true feeling; the form is not the point. Wherever the heart genuinely turns, God is already standing there. Presence follows sincerity, not location or material.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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