Devotion, fear of losing the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझा मज नाहीं । आला उबेग तो कांहीं ॥1॥
तुमच्या नामाची जतन । नव्हतां थोर वाटे सीण ॥ध्रु.॥
न पडावी निंदा । कानीं स्वामींची गोविंदा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे लाज । आह्मां स्वामीचें तें काज ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have no weariness of my own; whatever discomfort comes is nothing. But without the protection of Your Name, I feel great pain. May no slander of the Lord ever reach my ears, O Govinda. Says Tuka, our only concern is the honor and work of our Master.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am not my own. Whatever discomfort comes to me is nothing. But if Your Name is not kept safe within me, that is great pain. Let no slander of my Lord ever fall on my ears, Govinda. Tuka says: the one care we have is the honor and the work of our Master.
What it means
Tukaram is naming the only thing he is afraid of. His own troubles, sickness, hardship, count for nothing; he can bear them without complaint. The single unbearable loss would be to let go of God's Name, or to hear it dishonored. So he draws his whole concern down to one point: not his comfort, not his fate, but the honor of the Lord he serves. Everything personal has dropped away from him; what remains is care for his Master alone.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →