Devotion, the story of Krishna above all learning
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पंडित वाचक जरी जाला पुरता । तरी कृष्णकथा ऐके भावें ॥१॥
क्षीर तुपा साकरे जालिया भेटी । तैसी पडे मिठी गोडपणें ॥ध्रु.॥
जाणोनियां लाभ घेई हा पदरीं । गोड गोडावरी सेवीं बापा ॥२॥
जाणिवेचें मूळ उपडोनी खोड । जरी तुज चाड आहे तुझी ॥३॥
नाना परिमळद्रव्य उपचार । अंगी उटी सारचंदनाची ॥४॥
जेविलियाविण शून्य ते शृंगार । तैसी गोडी हरिकथेविण ॥५॥
ज्याकारणें वेदश्रुति ही पुराणें । तें चि विठ्ठलनाणें तिष्ठे कथे ॥६॥
तुका म्हणे येर दगडाचीं पेंवें । खळखळ आवघें मूळ तेथें ॥७॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if a scholar has mastered all learning, he should listen to the stories of Krishna with devotion. When milk, ghee, and sugar meet together, they embrace in a sweetness that is beyond description. Knowing this profit, take it into your lap; savor the sweet upon the sweet, dear one. Uproot the very sprout of intellectual pride if you truly care about your own liberation. All the fragrant substances and fine remedies, the sandalwood paste applied upon the body, are nothing; without having eaten, all adornment is hollow, and so is life without the taste of Hari's story. The Vedas, the scriptures, and the Puranas all exist for this alone: that same Vitthal stands present like true coin in the gathering of devotion. Says Tuka, everything else is but heaps of stone; all the turmoil of the world has its root right there.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even if a scholar has finished all his learning, let him still listen to the stories of Krishna with love. When milk and ghee and sugar meet, they fold together in a sweetness beyond telling. Knowing this gain, take it into your lap; taste sweet upon sweet, dear one. Uproot the very sprout of cleverness, root and stem, if you truly care for your own freedom. All the fragrant powders, the fine remedies, the sandalwood paste on the body are nothing. Without having eaten, all the adornment is empty; and so is life without the taste of Hari's story. The Vedas, the scriptures, the Puranas all exist for this one thing: that same Vitthal stands present, like true coin, in the telling of the story. Tuka says: everything else is heaps of stone, and all the world's noise has its root right there.
What it means
Tukaram sets loving attention to Krishna's story above the highest scholarship. Even the finished scholar should still listen with devotion, for the story mixed with love is like milk, ghee, and sugar coming together into an indescribable sweetness. The hard demand is the third stanza: uproot intellectual pride at the root if you actually want liberation, because cleverness is what blocks the taste. He grants that ornament and fragrance and learning have their place, then strips it away. Without the meal itself the adornment is hollow, and a life without Hari's story is exactly that. He gives scripture its true purpose: the Vedas and Puranas all point to this, where Vitthal himself stands present like genuine coin in the gathering. Everything outside that, he says, is only heaps of stone, and the world's whole clamor traces back to missing this one center.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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