The Name, God caught in love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुझें वर्म हातीं । दिलें सांगोनियां संतीं ॥1॥
मुखीं नाम धरीन कंठीं । अवघा सांटवीन पोटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
नवविधा वेढिन आधीं । सांपडलासी भावसंधी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बिळये गाढे । किळकाळ पायां पडे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The saints have revealed Your secret to me. I will hold the Name on my lips and in my throat, and store You entirely within my chitta. I will first surround You with the nine forms of devotion; You have been caught in the trap of love. Says Tuka, O mighty Lord, even Death falls at Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The saints have handed me Your secret; they told it to me plainly. I will hold the Name on my lips and in my throat, and store You whole inside me. First I will surround You with the nine forms of devotion. You are caught now, in the trap of love. Tuka says: O mighty Lord, even Death falls at Your feet.
What it means
Tukaram describes devotion as a kind of holy capture, with the saints letting him in on the trick. The secret they revealed is the Name: keep it on the lips, in the throat, and hold the whole of God within. He turns the nine traditional forms of bhakti into a net thrown around God, so that the Lord is caught in the very love offered to him. The tone is bold and intimate, the devotee binding God rather than being bound. And once the devotee has hold of this Lord at whose feet even Death bows, what power is left to fear?
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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