The Name, refusal of Vaikuntha
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुझ्या नामाची आवडी । आह्मी विठो तुझीं वेडीं॥1॥
आतां न वजों अणिकां ठायां । गाऊं गीत लागों पायां ॥ध्रु.॥
काय वैकुंठ बापुडें । तुझ्या प्रेमासुखापुढें ॥2॥
संतसमागममेळे । प्रेमसुखाचा सुकाळ ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तुझ्या पायीं । जन्ममरणा ठाव नाहीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have fallen in love with Your Name, O Vittho; I am mad for You. Now I will not go to any other place; I will sing songs and cling to Your feet. What is Vaikuntha, that poor thing, compared to the joy of Your love? In the gathering of saints there is an abundance of love's bliss. Says Tuka, at Your feet, birth and death find no foothold.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have fallen in love with Your Name, Vittho; I am mad for You. Now I will not go anywhere else. I will sing the song and cling to Your feet. What is poor little Vaikuntha next to the joy of loving You? Where the saints gather, the bliss of love is in abundance. Tuka says: at Your feet, birth and death have no foothold.
What it means
Tukaram has lost his heart to the Name and admits he is mad for Vittho. Having found this, he refuses to wander to any other refuge; his whole plan is to sing and hold the feet. Then he weighs even heaven against this love and calls Vaikuntha a poor little thing beside the joy of loving God, especially as it pours out where devotees gather. The closing claim is the boldest: at those feet there is no place left for birth and death to stand, so love of the Name is itself release.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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