Devotion, the only purity
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पवित्र सोंवळीं । एक तीं च भूमंडळीं ॥१॥
ज्यांचा आवडता देव । अखंडित प्रेमभाव ॥ध्रु.॥
तीं च भाग्यवंतें । सरतीं पुरतीं धनवित्तें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देवा । त्यांची केल्या पावे सेवा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Ritually pure in all the earth are they alone whose beloved is God and whose love-feeling is unbroken. They alone are the fortunate ones, sufficient and complete in wealth. Tuka says: service done to them reaches God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Truly pure, in all the wide earth, are only those whose beloved is God and whose love for him never breaks. They alone are the fortunate ones, rich and complete and wanting nothing. Tuka says: any service done to them reaches God himself.
What it means
Tukaram redefines purity and wealth at once. The only truly pure people, he says, are not the ritually clean but those who love God without a break; and the only truly rich are these same lovers, complete and lacking nothing because their wanting has been answered. The closing line, which he repeats elsewhere, gives the practical upshot: you reach God by serving such people, for service done to a true devotee arrives at God directly. Devotion, not status or money, is what makes a person both clean and full.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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