Devotion, grace free for the taking
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आइत्या भाग्या धणी व्हावे । केनें घ्यावें न सरे तें॥1॥
केणें आहे पंढरपुरीं । उधाराचें लाभीक ॥ध्रु.॥
बाखराची करुनी रीती । भरा पोतीं लवलाहीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे संतांपाडें । करूं पुढें वाखती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One should seize the fortune that comes freely; what is given so readily never runs out. Where else is there such bounty as in Pandharpur, this treasure available on credit? Fill your sacks quickly, as merchants do. Says Tuka, following the saints, we will share this wealth with those ahead.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Seize the fortune that comes to you free; what is given so freely never runs out. Where else is there such wealth as in Pandharpur, this treasure to be had on credit? Make ready your sacks and fill them fast, the way traders do. Tuka says: following the saints, we will share it with those who come after.
What it means
Tukaram pictures God's grace as a windfall offered without price and urges people not to let it pass. The marketplace image carries the point: this is wealth available on easy terms, even on credit, so the only foolishness would be to walk away with empty sacks. The urgency, fill them fast, is the urgency of devotion, take while the offer stands. And the closing line widens it past hoarding: in the company of the saints, the wealth gathered is meant to be passed on to those still coming. Grace received freely is meant to be shared freely.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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