Devotion, the divine enchanter
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भीमातिरींचा नाटक । यानें लावियेलें चेटक ॥1॥
मन बुिद्ध जाली ठक । नेणे संसाराची टुक ॥ध्रु.॥
कैशी प्रसंगीक वाणी । प्रत्यादर कडसणी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मोठा ठक । जेथें तेथें उभा ठाके ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The enchanter of the Bhima's banks has cast His spell upon me. My mind and intellect have been bewitched; I no longer know the tricks of worldly life. How timely are His words, how masterful His engagement. Says Tuka, He is the supreme trickster; wherever you look, there He stands.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The actor on the banks of the Bhima has cast His spell on me. My mind and intellect are tricked; I no longer know the smallest bit of worldly life. How timely His speech is, how skillful His handling. Tuka says: He is a great trickster. Wherever you look, there He stands.
What it means
Tukaram describes being captured by God with delight, calling Him a player and a cheat. The Lord who stands at Pandharpur on the Bhima's bank has, like a magician, bewitched the poet's mind and intellect so that ordinary worldly cleverness has fallen away. He marvels at how perfectly timed God's word is and how deftly He works His charm. The affectionate insult, great trickster, names the way grace overtakes a person against his calculation and then turns out to be everywhere at once, standing wherever the freed mind happens to look.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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