Grinding-songs, God everywhere
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पहिली माझी ओवी ओवीन जगत्र । गाईन पवित्र पांडुरंग ॥1॥
दुसरी माझी ओवी दुजें नाहीं कोठें । जनीं वनीं भेटे पांडुरंग ॥ध्रु.॥
तिसरी माझी ओवी तिळा नाहीं ठाव । अवघा चि देव जनीं वनीं ॥2॥
चवथी माझी ओवी वैरिलें दळण । गाईन निधान पांडुरंग ॥3॥
पांचवी माझी ओवी ते माझिया माहेरा । गाईन निरंतरा पांडुरंगा ॥4॥
साहावी माझी ओवी साहा ही आटले। गुरूमूर्त्त भेटले पांडुरंग ॥5॥
सातवी माझी ओवी आठवे वेळोवेळां। बैसलासे डोळां पांडुरंग ॥6॥
आठवी माझी ओवी आठावीस योग। उभा चंद्रभागे पांडुरंग ॥7॥
नववी माझी ओवी सरलें दळण। चुकलें मरण संसारीचें ॥8॥
दाहावी माझी ओवी दाहा अवतारा । न यावें संसारा तुका ह्मणे ॥9॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My first ovi I shall weave for the whole world: I shall sing of the holy Panduranga. My second ovi says there is no second anywhere; in village and forest, Panduranga is met. My third ovi says there is not a sesame seed's space without Him; God is everywhere, in field and forest. My fourth ovi: the grinding has been assigned, and I shall sing of the treasure, Panduranga. My fifth ovi is for my mother's home: I shall sing ceaselessly of Panduranga. My sixth ovi: the six philosophies have been exhausted, and I have met the Guru incarnate, Panduranga. My seventh ovi I remember again and again: Panduranga is seated before my eyes. My eighth ovi unites the twenty-eight yogas: Panduranga stands on the bank of the Chandrabhaga. My ninth ovi: the grinding is done and the death of worldly life is ended. Says Tuka, my tenth ovi: O Ten Incarnations, may there be no more returning to this world.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My first ovi I weave for the whole world: I will sing of the holy Panduranga. My second ovi: there is no second anywhere; in village and forest, Panduranga is met. My third ovi: there is not a sesame seed's space without him; it is all God, in field and forest. My fourth ovi: the grinding has been set before me, and I will sing of the treasure, Panduranga. My fifth ovi is for my mother's home; I will sing of Panduranga without ceasing. My sixth ovi: the six schools are spent, and I have met the Guru in person, Panduranga. My seventh ovi I remember again and again: Panduranga is seated before my eyes. My eighth ovi joins the twenty-eight yogas: Panduranga stands on the bank of the Chandrabhaga. My ninth ovi: the grinding is done, and the death of worldly life is ended. Tuka says: my tenth ovi, O Ten Incarnations, let me not come back to this world again.
What it means
This is a grinding-song, an ovi sung at the millstone, and Tukaram counts the verses one to ten while turning each number into a confession of where God is. He moves from singing for the whole world, to there being no second anywhere, to not a seed's width of space without God, until the very labor and the household become places God fills. The frame the plain layer holds back is that the count is also a ladder: the six philosophies wear out, the Guru is met in person, the twenty-eight yogas converge, and the milling of ordinary life turns out to be the end of rebirth. By the tenth verse the song is no longer about grinding grain but about the grinding of worldly existence coming to a stop. Tuka's last line names the stake plainly: let this be the last return to this world.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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