Devotion, God filling everything
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विठ्ठल सोयरा सज्जन सांगाती । विठ्ठल या चित्तीं बैसलासे ॥1॥
विठ्ठलें हें अंग व्यापिली ते काया । विठ्ठल हे छाया माझी मज ॥ध्रु.॥
बैसला विठ्ठल जिव्हेचिया माथां । न वदे अन्यथा आन दुजें ॥2॥
सकळां इंिद्रयां मन एक प्रधान । तें ही करी ध्यान विठोबाचें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे या विठ्ठलासी आतां । नये विसंबतां माझें मज ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Vitthal is my kinsman, my companion, my friend. Vitthal has seated Himself within my chitta. Vitthal has pervaded my body and my being. Vitthal is my own shadow following me. Vitthal has settled on my tongue; it will not utter anything other than His Name. Of all the senses, the mind is the chief, and even it meditates upon Vithoba alone. Says Tuka, now I cannot be separated from this Vitthal even for a moment.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Vitthal is my kinsman, my good companion, my friend; Vitthal has taken His seat in my mind. Vitthal has filled this body, this whole frame; Vitthal is my own shadow, mine to me. Vitthal sits on the tip of my tongue; it will speak nothing else, nothing other. Of all the senses the mind is chief, and even it meditates on Vithoba alone. Tuka says: now I cannot let this Vitthal slip from me for a moment.
What it means
Tukaram lists the places God has occupied until nothing is left over for anything else. Vitthal is his relative and friend, seated in his mind; Vitthal fills his body and follows him like his own shadow. The Name is on his tongue, which will say nothing else, and the mind, the ruler of all the senses, meditates on Vithoba alone. Sense by sense, the self is taken over from within. The result is total dependence: he can no longer let go of Vitthal even for an instant.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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