The Name, the tongue that calls no other
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुजविण देवा । कोणा ह्मणे माझी जिव्हा ॥1॥
तरि हे हो कां शतखंड । पडो झडोनियां रांड ॥ध्रु.॥
कांहीं इच्छेसाटीं । करिल वळवळ करंटी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कर । कटीं तयाचा विसर॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If my tongue ever calls upon anyone but You, O God, let it be shattered into a hundred pieces and fall away. If it should wag even slightly for the sake of some petty desire, let it be called wretched and worthless. Says Tuka, let anyone who forgets You have their hands cut away at the waist.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If my tongue ever calls on anyone but You, O God, let it break into a hundred pieces and fall away. Let such a wretched tongue be cast off. If it so much as wags for some petty desire, let it be called worthless. Tuka says: let anyone who forgets You have his hands struck off at the waist.
What it means
Tukaram swears a fierce oath of single-pointed loyalty to the Name. The violent images, a tongue shattered, hands struck off, are aimed at himself and at his own faculties, not at any other person; they are the form his vow takes. He will not let his tongue beg from anyone but God, and not even for a small worldly want. The harshness measures the seriousness: the mouth and hands exist to call on God and serve Him, and to turn them elsewhere is to make them worthless. The point is not cruelty but a refusal to let any part of himself drift to a second object.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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