Humility, the dust at the saints' feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं साजत हो मोठा । मज अळंकार खोटा ॥1॥
असें तुमचा रजरेण । संतां पायींची वाहाण ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं स्वरूपीं ओळखी । भक्तीभाव करीं देखीं ॥2॥
नाहीं शून्याकारीं । क्षर ओळखी अक्षरीं ॥3॥
नाहीं विवेक या ठायीं । आत्मा अनात्मा काई ॥4॥
कांहीं नव्हें तुका । पांयां पडने हें ऐका ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Grand ornaments do not suit me; false decorations are not my portion. I am the dust beneath the feet of the saints, the sandal on their feet. I have no acquaintance with the formless Self. I practice devotion and worship as I see others do. I have no knowledge of the void. I do not recognize the imperishable within the perishable. There is no discrimination here of Self and not-Self. Says Tuka, I am nothing. Listen: falling at Your feet is all I know.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Grand ornaments do not suit me; false finery is not for me. I am the dust under the saints' feet, the sandal on their feet. I have no acquaintance with the formless Self. I do devotion and worship the way I see others do. I know nothing of the void. I cannot find the imperishable inside the perishable. There is no sorting here of Self and not-Self. Tuka says: I am nothing. Listen: falling at your feet is all I know.
What it means
Tukaram strips off every claim to spiritual rank and stands as nothing. The grand ornaments he refuses are the prizes of high knowledge: realizing the formless Self, seeing the void, discerning the eternal within the passing, dividing Self from not-Self. He says flatly that he has none of these, and is not even pretending to; he just worships the way he sees ordinary devotees worship. His whole standing is to be dust beneath the saints' feet, the sandal they tread in. The one thing he knows how to do, and the only thing he claims, is to fall at God's feet.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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