Devotion, Vitthal is everything
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विठ्ठल आमचें जीवन । आगमनिगमाचें स्थान । विठ्ठल सिद्धीचें साधन । विठ्ठल ध्यानविसावा ॥1॥
विठ्ठल कुळींचें दैवत। विठ्ठल वित्त गोत । विठ्ठल पुण्य पुरुषार्थ । आवडे मात विठ्ठलाची ॥2॥
विठ्ठल विस्तारला जनीं । सप्त ही पाताळें भरूनी । विठ्ठल व्यापक त्रिभुवनीं । विठ्ठल मुनिमानसीं ॥3॥
विठ्ठल बाप माय चुलता । विठ्ठल भगिनी आणि भ्राता । विठ्ठलेंविण चाड नाहीं गोता । तुका ह्मणे आतां नाहीं दुसरें ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Vitthala is our very life, the abode of all sacred knowledge. Vitthala is the means to all spiritual attainment, and Vitthala is the resting place of meditation. Vitthala is the deity of our family line; Vitthala is our wealth and kin. Vitthala is our merit and our purpose; the word of Vitthala alone delights us. Vitthala has spread throughout all people, filling even the seven netherworlds. Vitthala pervades the three realms; Vitthala dwells in the minds of the sages. Vitthala is father, mother, and uncle; Vitthala is sister and brother. Says Tuka, without Vitthala I have no desire for any other bond; there is nothing else now.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Vitthal is our very life. He is the home of all sacred knowledge. Vitthal is the means to every attainment. Vitthal is the rest at the end of meditation. Vitthal is the deity of our family line. Vitthal is our wealth and our kin. Vitthal is our merit, our whole purpose. Only talk of Vitthal pleases us. Vitthal has spread out through all people, filling even the seven netherworlds. Vitthal fills the three worlds. Vitthal lives in the minds of the sages. Vitthal is father, mother, uncle. Vitthal is sister and brother. Tuka says: without Vitthal I want no other bond. Now there is nothing else.
What it means
Tukaram names Vitthal as the single content of his whole world. One after another he hands over to Vitthal the things a person normally divides up: life and knowledge, the means and the rest of the spiritual path, the family deity, wealth, kin, merit, purpose. Then he widens the claim outward, Vitthal fills all people, the seven netherworlds, the three realms, the minds of the sages, so there is nowhere the Lord is not. He folds in the family ties too: Vitthal is father, mother, sister, brother. The verse closes by emptying the field of every rival attachment; with Vitthal there is simply nothing else left to want.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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