Devotion to the saints, shameless joy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मज त्याची भीड नुलंघवे देवा । जो ह्मणे केशवा दास तुझा ॥1॥
मज आवडती बहु तैसे जन । करिती कीर्तन कथा तुझी ॥ध्रु.॥
सांडूनियां लाज नाचेन त्यांपुढें । आइकती कोडें नाम तुझें ॥2॥
न लगे उपचार होईन भिकारी । वैष्णवांच्या घरीं उष्टावळी॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे जाणों उचित अनुचित । विचारूनि हित तें चि करूं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I cannot disregard anyone who calls himself Your servant, O God. I dearly love those who sing Your praise and tell Your story. Casting away all shame, I will dance before them; they who love to hear Your name. I need no comforts; I will become a beggar and eat the leftovers in the homes of the Vaishnavas. Says Tuka, I know what is proper and what is not; I will consider and do only what is truly good.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I cannot disregard anyone who calls himself your servant, O God. I dearly love such people, who sing your praise and tell your story. Throwing away my shame, I will dance before them, those who love to hear your name. I need no comforts. I will become a beggar and eat the leftovers in the homes of the Vaishnavas. Tuka says: I know what is proper and what is not; I will weigh it and do only what is truly good.
What it means
Tukaram measures his loyalties by one thing: love of God. Anyone who calls himself God's servant has a claim on him that he cannot overlook, and the people who sing and tell God's story are the ones he loves. For their sake he will throw off respectability, dance in public, refuse comforts, and gladly take a beggar's place eating leftovers in devotees' homes. The closing line answers anyone who would call this improper: he has weighed propriety against true good, and chosen the good. In his scale, the company of God's lovers outranks dignity.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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