Beholding God, confession of unworthiness
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हिरा शोभला कोंदणीं । जडित माणिकांची खाणी ॥१॥
तैसा दिसे नारायण । मुख सुखाचे मंडण ॥ध्रु.॥
कोटि चंद्रलीळा । पूर्णिमेच्या पूर्णकळा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे दृष्टि धाये । परतोनि माघारी ते न ये ॥३॥
परी तूं आपुलिया सत्ता । मज करावें सरता ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं चित्तशुद्धि । स्थिर पायांपाशीं बुद्धि ॥२॥
अपराधाचा केलों । तुका म्हणे किती बोलों ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A diamond shines in its setting, embedded in a mine of rubies. Just so does Narayana appear, his face the very ornament of bliss. His splendor surpasses ten million moons at their fullest brilliance. Says Tuka, once the eyes behold him, the gaze does not turn back. Yet by your own sovereign will, make me complete. My mind is not yet pure, nor is my understanding steady at your feet. Says Tuka, I am nothing but a mass of offenses; how much more can I confess?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A diamond shines in its setting, like a mine studded with rubies. Narayana looks just like that. His face is the ornament of all joy. He is brighter than ten million moons, full as the full moon. Tuka says: once the eyes look at him, the gaze drinks its fill and does not turn back. But you, by your own power, make me whole. My mind is not pure. My thoughts will not stay still at your feet. I am made of nothing but faults. Tuka says: how much can I confess?
What it means
The poem moves from sight to plea. First Tukaram describes Narayana's beauty in heaped images, a diamond in its setting, a mine of rubies, the brilliance of ten million full moons, and says that once the eye sees this it cannot look away. Then the praise turns into prayer: he asks God to complete him by sovereign grace, because he cannot do it himself. He confesses plainly that his mind is impure and his attention will not hold steady at God's feet. The honesty is the point; he names himself a mass of faults and admits there is no end to what he could confess, so he leaves the making-whole to God alone.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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