Inner worship, the body as God's temple
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शब्दांचीं रत्नें करूनी अळंकार । तेणें विश्वंभर पूजियेला ॥१॥
भावाचे उपचार करूनि भोजन । तेणें नारायण जेवविला ॥ध्रु.॥
संसारा हातीं दिलें आंचवण । मुखशुद्धी मन समर्पिलें ॥२॥
रंगलीं इंद्रियें सुरंग तांबूल । माथां तुळसीदळ समर्पिलें ॥३॥
एकभावदीप करूनि निरांजन । देऊनि आसन देहाचें या ॥४॥
न बोलोनि तुका करी चरणसेवा । निजविलें देवा माजघरीं ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I fashioned ornaments from the jewels of words and with them adorned the Lord of the universe. I prepared a meal of heartfelt devotion and with it fed Narayana. I gave the rinsing water of worldly life to his hands and offered my mind as the final cleansing of the mouth. The senses, steeped in fragrant betel, were offered, and a tulsi leaf was placed upon his head. Making a single lamp of undivided focus, I gave him this body as his seat. Says Tuka, in silence I serve his feet and have laid the Lord to rest in the inner chamber.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I made ornaments out of the jewels of words, and with them I adorned the Lord of the universe. I made a meal out of heartfelt feeling, and with it I fed Narayana. I gave the rinsing water of worldly life to his hands, and offered my mind as the mouth-cleansing after the meal. I dressed his senses in fragrant betel, and placed a tulsi leaf upon his head. I made a single lamp of undivided feeling and waved it, and I gave him this body as his seat. Tuka says: in silence I serve his feet, and I have laid God to rest in the inner chamber.
What it means
Tukaram takes the whole ritual of temple worship and performs it inwardly, with nothing physical at all. Words become the ornaments, devotion becomes the food, the busy world becomes the hand-rinsing water, the mind itself becomes the rinse of the mouth. Each outward act of puja is matched by something offered from within. The point is that real worship needs no brass and no flowers; the body is the temple, single-pointed feeling is the lamp, and the deepest service is done in silence. He ends by laying God to rest in the innermost room, the heart, where the worshipper and the worshipped are finally alone.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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