Devotion, the point of no return
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आता न यें मागें । मी आलें याच्या रागें । काय माझें जगें । कोपोनियां करावें ॥१॥
कां गो कलित्यां कोल्हाल । तुम्ही भलत्या च सकल । वेचाल ते बोल । झुटे होती बोलिले ॥ध्रु.॥
याचे भेटी माझें मन । स्वरुपीं ठाकले लोचन । वेगळें तें क्षण आतां होऊं नावरे ॥२॥
काज काम नको जालें । बीजें नावरे बोलिलें । याचिया भेदिलें । कामबाणीं अंतर ॥३॥
या वेगळें होणें । आतां जळो तैसें जिणें । घेतलें तें मनें । आतां मागें न फिरे ॥४॥
आतां मोटी वार । माझी नका धरूं चार । तुकयाचा दातार । शेजे तो मी सुतलों ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I will not turn back now; I have come drawn by his love. Let my people rage as it will, what can it do to me? My eyes have settled upon his form, and my heart cannot bear even a moment's separation. All desire and duty have fallen away, for his arrows of love have pierced my heart. Says Tuka, I have laid down beside my Benefactor; let life without him burn to ash, for I will not retreat.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I will not turn back now. I came drawn by his love. What can my own people do to me, raging? Why all this uproar over a fallen woman? All of you say whatever you like; the words you spend will turn out to be lies. At meeting him my mind, and my eyes, settled on his form. Now I cannot bear to be apart from it even a moment. Duty and work have become unwanted; I cannot even speak the basics. His arrows of desire have pierced my inmost heart. To be parted from him now, let such a life burn. My mind has taken hold, and now it will not turn back. Do not keep watch over me anymore. Tuka says: I have lain down beside my Benefactor.
What it means
This is the voice of one who has crossed the line and will not recross it. She has been drawn to Krishna by love and now lets the world rage; their scolding, she says, will prove empty in the end. Tukaram pictures total absorption: eyes fixed on his form, all duty and even ordinary speech fallen away, the heart pierced by love's arrows. The radical claim is that life apart from him is worth nothing, fit only to burn. By saying she has lain down beside her Benefactor, she declares a union the watching world has no power left to police.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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