Devotion, a bond across many births
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जन्मोजन्मींची संगत । भेटी जाली अकस्मात ॥1॥
आतां सोडितां सुटेना । तंतु प्रीतीचा तुटेना ॥ध्रु.॥
माझें चित्त तुझ्या पायां । मिठी पडिली पंढरिराया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे अंतीं । तुझी माझी एक गति ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A friendship spanning many births has met with a sudden reunion. Now this bond cannot be broken; the thread of love will not snap. My mind has fallen at Your feet in an embrace, O King of Pandhari. Says Tuka, in the end, Your destiny and mine are one and the same.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A companionship from birth after birth has met again, all at once. Now, even if I try to let go, it will not loosen; the thread of love will not snap. My mind has fallen at your feet and clasped them, O King of Pandhari. Tuka says: in the end, your way and mine are one and the same.
What it means
Tukaram tells of a love that feels older than this life, a companionship carried through many births, suddenly renewed in reunion. The bond is now past breaking; even if he tried to release it, the thread of love would hold. His mind has fallen at Vitthal's feet and clings there in embrace. The final line states the whole hope of his devotion: that at the last his destiny and God's will be one and the same.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →