The Name, nectar that never sates
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुधारसें ओलावली । रसना धाली न धाय ॥1॥
कळों नये जाली धणी । नारायणीं पूर्णता ॥ध्रु.॥
आवडे तें तें च यासी । ब्रह्मरसीं निरसें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बहुतां परी । करूनि करीं सेवन ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Drenched in divine nectar, the tongue is satisfied yet never sated. One cannot tell whether the hunger has been quenched; in Narayana, fullness is complete. Whatever this tongue loves, it seeks again and again, dissolving into the essence of Brahman. Says Tuka, prepare it in many ways and partake of it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Wet with the nectar, the tongue is filled yet never full. You cannot tell if the hunger is ever met; in Narayana the fullness is complete. Whatever the tongue loves, it seeks again and again, dissolving into the taste of Brahman. Tuka says: prepare it in many ways and keep tasting it.
What it means
Tukaram describes the taste of God's name as a sweetness that satisfies and yet leaves you wanting more, a hunger that is content and unquenchable at once. He calls this paradox fullness in Narayana: you are complete and still drawn back. The tongue keeps returning to what it loves and melts into the very taste of Brahman. His counsel is to keep at it, to make the name in many forms, chanting, singing, repeating, and go on savoring it, since this is the one appetite that nourishes by never ending.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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