Devotion, asking only for the form
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सावळें सुंदर रूप मनोहर । राहो निरंतर हृदयीं माझे॥1॥
आणीक कांहीं इच्छा आह्मां नाहीं चाड । तुझें नाम गोड पांडुरंगे ॥ध्रु.॥
जन्मोजन्मीं ऐसें मागितलें तुज । आह्मांसी सहज द्यावें आतां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज ऐसे दयाळ । धुंडितां सकळ नाहीं आह्मां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
May that dark and beautiful form, enchanting to the heart, remain forever in my heart. I have no other wish or craving; Your name alone is sweet to me, O Panduranga. Birth after birth I have asked this of You; grant it to me now, for it comes naturally to You. Says Tuka, searching everywhere, I find no one as compassionate as You.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
That dark and lovely form, so beautiful to the heart: let it stay forever in my heart. We want nothing else, have no other craving; your name is sweet to us, Panduranga. Birth after birth I have asked you only this; now give it to us freely. Tuka says: searching everywhere, we find no one as kind as you.
What it means
Tukaram makes a request that refuses every ordinary request. He asks not for relief or reward but only that Vitthal's dark, beautiful form stay lodged in his heart and that the sweet Name never leave his mouth. He says this is the one thing he has begged across many lifetimes, and he asks God to give it freely, as something that costs God nothing to grant. The reason he keeps asking the same one is in the last line: he has searched everywhere and found no one else this merciful, so there is no other door to knock on.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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