Service, calling the Lord to dine
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाली पाकसिद्धि वाट पाहे रखुमाई । उदक तापलें डेरां चीकसा मर्दुनी अई ॥१॥
उठा पांडुरंगा उशीर जाला भोजनीं । उभ्या आंचवणा गोपी कळस घेउनी ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघ्या सावचित्त सेवेलागीं सकळा । उद्धव अक्रूर आले पाचारूं मुळा ॥२॥
सावरिली सेज सुमनयाति सुगंधा । रत्नदीप ताटीं वाळा विडिया विनोदा ॥३॥
तुका विनंती करी पाहे पंढरीराणा । असा सावचित्त सांगे सकळा जना ॥४॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The meal is ready and Rukhmabai waits. The water is heated, and the herbal paste has been ground and prepared. Rise, O Panduranga; the hour for dining has grown late. The milkmaids stand ready with vessels for the rinsing of hands. All are attentive and eager to serve. Uddhava and Akrura have come to call the Lord. The bed is made with fragrant flowers, and the tray holds betel, spices, and sweet amusement beside the jeweled lamp. Says Tuka, I make my plea; look this way, O King of Pandhari, and tell all the people to be ready.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The meal is ready, and Rukhmabai is waiting. The water is heated in the pot, and the herbal paste has been ground. Rise, Panduranga; it has grown late for your dinner. The milkmaids stand ready with vessels to rinse your hands. Everyone is attentive, eager to serve. Uddhava and Akrura have come to call you. The bed is made with fragrant flowers; the tray holds betel, spices, and sweet delights beside the jeweled lamp. Tuka says: I make my plea. Look this way, King of Pandhari, and tell all the people to be ready.
What it means
Tukaram serves God as if God were a beloved householder, and the whole poem is a household summoned to attend him. The meal, the heated water, the ground paste, the waiting wife Rukhmabai, the milkmaids with rinsing vessels: every domestic detail is real care offered to Vitthal. By naming Uddhava and Akrura come to call him, the poet folds devotee and Lord into one intimate home. The point is that love does not worship from a distance; it cooks, prepares the bed, and waits at the door for the Lord to turn and look.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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