Devotion, the Name is enough
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शास्त्राचें जें सार वेदांची जो मूर्ति । तो माझा सांगाती प्राणसखा ॥१॥
म्हणउनी नाहीं आणिकांचा पांग । सर्व जालें सांग नामें एका ॥ध्रु.॥
सगुण निर्गुण जयाचीं अंगें । तो चि आम्हां संगें क्रीडा करी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आम्ही विधीचे जनिते । स्वयंभू आइते केले नव्हों ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He who is the essence of all scriptures and the living form of the Vedas, he is my companion and my dearest friend. Therefore I have no dependence on anyone else; through his Name alone, everything is complete. Both the manifest and the formless are aspects of his being, and it is he who plays and sports in our company. Says Tuka, we are the parents of Brahma himself; we are not self-made or ready-made, but fashioned by devotion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He who is the essence of all the scriptures, the living form of the Vedas, is my companion, the friend of my very life. So I depend on no one else; through his one Name alone, everything is complete. The manifest and the formless are both his body, and it is he who plays with us. Tuka says: we are the parents of Brahma the creator; we are not self-made nor ready-made, but fashioned by devotion.
What it means
Tukaram is saying that having the Lord as his closest friend ends every other dependence. The being who is the heart of all scripture and the Vedas made flesh is the friend of his life, and through that one Name nothing is lacking. He adds that this Lord is both the form-having and the formless, and he is the one who comes and plays with his devotees. The closing line is the bold one: through devotion the devotee becomes parent even to the creator. He insists devotees are not self-existent or born ready, but shaped into what they are by bhakti itself.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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