The Name, what would make me happy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मी तेणें सुखी । ह्मणा विठ्ठल विठ्ठल मुखीं ॥1॥
तुमचें येर वित्त धन । तें मज मृित्तकेसमान ॥ध्रु.॥
कंटीं मिरवा तुळसी । व्रत करा एकादशी ॥2॥
ह्मणवा हरिचे दास । तुका ह्मणे मज हे आस ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We are happy when you say Vitthal, Vitthal with your lips. Your other riches and wealth are no better than dust to me. Wear the tulasi around your neck and observe the Ekadashi vow. Says Tuka, my only desire is that you call yourselves servants of Hari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We are made happy by just this: say Vitthal, Vitthal with your lips. Your other riches and wealth are no better than dirt to me. Wear the tulasi beads at your neck and keep the Ekadashi fast. Call yourselves the servants of Hari. Tuka says: this is my one desire.
What it means
Tukaram tells people what they could give him that he would actually want, and it is nothing they would think to offer. Their money and goods are dust in his eyes; what makes him glad is to hear the Name on their lips and to see them take up the simple marks of the devotee. He asks for the tulasi beads, the Ekadashi fast, and above all the willingness to be called Hari's servant. The whole abhanga redirects the impulse to honor a saint with gifts back onto the only gift he counts, the hearer's own turning toward God.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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