Devotion, call God by any name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कांहीं जाणों नये पांडुरंगाविण । पाविजेल सीण संदेहानें ॥1॥
भलतिया नावें आळविला पिता । तरि तो जाणता कळवळा ॥ध्रु.॥
अळंकार जातो गौरवितां वाणी । सर्वगात्रा धणी हरिकथा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे उपज विल्हाळे आवडी । करावा तो घडी घडी लाहो ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One should know nothing apart from Panduranga. Doubt will only bring suffering. By whatever name you call upon the Father, He, the knowing one, responds with tender care. Adornment flows when the tongue utters praise; Hari-katha is the satiation of every limb. Says Tuka, that love wells up and overflows. Take its profit moment by moment.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Know nothing apart from Panduranga. Doubt will only bring you pain. Call upon the Father by any name you like; he is the knowing one, and he answers with tender care. Praise adorns the tongue that speaks it; the telling of Hari's story fills every limb. Tuka says: that love wells up and overflows. Take its profit moment by moment.
What it means
Tukaram's counsel is single-minded: hold to Panduranga and nothing else, because doubt only multiplies suffering. He frees the listener from anxiety about getting it right. Call God Father by whatever name; the one who knows your heart will respond with tenderness. Praising him is itself an ornament, and reciting Hari's deeds nourishes the whole body. The love rises and spills over on its own, so he urges you to seize its gain again and again, hour by hour.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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