Devotion, refusing to bargain with God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कोणतें कारण राहिलें यामुळें । जें म्यां तुज बळें कष्टवावें ॥1॥
नाहीं जात जीव नाहीं होत हानी । सहज तें मनीं आठवलें ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं कांहीं चिंता मरतों उपवासी । अथवा त्या ह्मैसी गाई व्हाव्या ॥2॥
हें तों तुज कळों येतसे अंतरीं । लाखणीक वरी साच भाव ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा नासिवंतासाठीं । पायांसवें तुटी करिती तुझ्या ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What pressing cause remains that would compel me to trouble You by force? I am not dying, nor is any harm befalling me. What came to mind arose naturally, of its own accord. I have no worry about starving, nor any need for buffaloes or cows. You know all this within my heart. The outward display is genuine devotion. Says Tuka, O God, for the sake of perishable things, people sever their connection with Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What pressing cause is there that I should force You into trouble for me? My life is not leaving. No harm is coming to me. What came to mind came on its own. I have no fear of dying of hunger, no need of buffaloes or cows. You know all of this within my heart. The outward show is true devotion. Tuka says: O God, for the sake of perishable things people break off their hold on Your feet.
What it means
Tukaram refuses to use God as a means to anything. He checks himself: there is no emergency, no starvation, no loss of cattle, nothing that would justify pestering the Lord for help, and what rose in his mind rose on its own, not as a demand. He trusts that God already reads the heart and knows the difference between asking for things and simply wanting Him. The closing line names the trap he is avoiding: people let go of God's feet for the sake of perishable goods, trading the eternal for what will rot. By wanting nothing from God except God, Tukaram keeps his grip on the feet that do not pass away.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →