Patience, waiting while God dines
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भीतरी गेले हरी राहा क्षणभरी । होईल फळ धीर करावा ॥१॥
न करीं त्वरा ऐकें मात । क्षण एक निवांत बैसावें ॥ध्रु.॥
करूनी मर्दन सारिलें पाणी । न्हाले देव अंग पुसी भवानी ॥२॥
नेसला सोनसळा विनवी रखुमाई । वाढिलें आतां ठायीं चलावें जी ॥३॥
करुनियां भोजन घेतलें आंचवण । आनंदें नारायण पहुडले ॥४॥
तुका मात जाणवी आतां । सकळां बहुतां होती ची ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Hari has gone inside; wait here a moment and the fruit will come if you are patient. Do not be hasty; hear what I say and sit quietly for a short while. The massage is finished and the bath is done; the Lord has bathed and Bhavani dries his body. He dresses in a golden silk garment; Rukhmabai requests that the meal be served. After eating and rinsing his hands, Narayana reclines in bliss. Says Tuka, I pass this word along to all of you: be at ease.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Hari has gone inside. Wait here a moment; the fruit will come if you are patient. Do not rush; hear what I say, and sit quietly for a little while. The massage is over, the water is poured, the Lord has bathed, and Bhavani dries his body. He puts on a golden silk garment; Rukhmabai asks that the meal be served and the Lord come to his place. After eating and rinsing his hands, Narayana lies down in bliss. Tuka says: I pass this word to all of you now: be at ease.
What it means
The poem teaches waiting by narrating, step by step, what God is doing within. Hari has gone inside, so the devotee outside is told not to be hasty but to sit quietly and trust that the fruit of waiting will come. Each domestic stage, the bath, the drying, the golden garment, the served meal, the rest, marks time passing in the Lord's own house. The reassurance at the close is the lesson: the devotee need not fret or push, because God is unhurried and at ease, and patience itself is the right posture before him.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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