Exclusive devotion, the one Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय करूं आन दैवतें । एका विण पंढरीनाथें ॥1॥
सरिता मिळाली सागरीं । आणिकां नांवां कैची उरी ॥ध्रु.॥
अनेक दीपीचा प्रकाश । सूर्य उगवतां नाश ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नेणें दुजें । एका विण पंढरीराजें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What shall I do with other deities, when I have the Lord of Pandhari alone? When a river has merged into the ocean, what trace of its former name remains? The light of many lamps is destroyed when the sun rises. Says Tuka, I know no second. There is none but the King of Pandhari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What shall I do with other gods, when I have the Lord of Pandhari alone? When a river has merged into the ocean, what is left of its old name? The light of many lamps is gone when the sun rises. Tuka says: I know no second. There is none but the King of Pandhari.
What it means
Tukaram declares that one God has swallowed every other. He gives two images for what happens to the rest: a river that reaches the ocean keeps no separate name, and many small lamps simply vanish when the sun comes up. This is not contempt for other deities but a description of what total devotion feels like from inside. Once Vitthal fills the field, no second object of worship can survive as anything distinct. He knows no other; there is only the King of Pandhari.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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