Devotion, wanting nothing but to give
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय मागें आह्मी गंुतलों काशानीं । पुढें वाहों मनीं धाक देवा ॥1॥
कीतिन चराचरीं आहे तैसी आहे । भेटोनियां काय घ्यावें आह्मां ॥ध्रु.॥
घेउनी धरणें बैसती उपवासी । हट आह्मांपासीं नाहीं तैसा ॥2॥
तातडी तयांनीं केली विटंबणा । आह्मां नारायणा काय उणें ॥3॥
नाहीं मुक्तिचाड वास वैकुंठींचा । जीव भाव आमुचा देऊं तुज ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे काय मानेल तें आतां । तूं घेई अनंता सर्व माझें ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What are we entangled in behind us? Why carry dread of what lies ahead, O God? Your fame pervades all creation as it is; what more is there for us to gain by meeting You? Some sit on hunger-strikes demanding Your audience, but we are not that stubborn. Those who pressed You in haste only brought humiliation upon themselves. We lack nothing, O Narayana. We have no craving for liberation or a seat in Vaikuntha. We will give You our life and jiva. Says Tuka, whatever pleases You now, take everything of mine, O Infinite One.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What were we entangled in before? Why carry dread in the mind of what lies ahead, O God? Your fame fills all that moves and stands still, just as it is; what is there for us to gain by meeting You? Some sit in hunger-strikes, demanding Your audience; we have no such stubbornness. Those who pressed You in haste only brought shame on themselves. We lack nothing, O Narayana. We have no craving for liberation or for a seat in Vaikuntha. We give You our life and our soul. Tuka says: take whatever pleases You now; take everything of mine, O Infinite One.
What it means
Tukaram lays down both fear and demand. He refuses to fret over past entanglements or future dread, and he notes that God's glory already fills the whole moving and unmoving world, so there is nothing extra to be won by forcing a meeting. He sets himself apart from those who try to coerce God, the ones who fast in protest demanding a vision, recalling that such pressure only humiliated them. Then comes the heart of it: he wants nothing, not even liberation, not even a place in Vaikuntha, the very goals most devotees chase. Having emptied himself of every demand, he offers the only thing left, his life and his soul, and tells the Infinite to take all of it on God's own terms. Love that asks for nothing becomes a love that can give everything.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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