Devotion, the mind made wholly one
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पतिव्रते जैसा भ्रतार प्रमाण । आह्मां नारायण तैशापरी ॥1॥
सर्वभावें लोभ्या आवडे हें धन । आह्मां नारायण तैशापरी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे एकविध जालें मन । विठ्ठला वांचून नेणे दुजें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
As a faithful wife holds her husband as her authority, so is Narayana to us. As one consumed by greed loves wealth with his whole being, so is Narayana to us. Says Tuka, my mind has become wholly one. It knows nothing other than Vitthal.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
As a faithful wife holds her husband as her whole measure, so Narayana is to us. As a greedy man, with his whole heart, loves wealth, so Narayana is to us. Tuka says: my mind has become one. It knows nothing other than Vitthal.
What it means
Tukaram reaches for two everyday loves to say how total his devotion is. The faithful wife treats her husband as her one standard for everything; the miser loves his money with every fiber of his being. He takes both of those single-minded attachments and says: that is exactly what Narayana is to us, the one measure, the one love. The poem ends by naming the result without ornament: his mind has become one undivided thing, and it can no longer recognize anything except Vitthal.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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