The Name, longing without limit
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उपजोनियां मरें । परि हें चि वाटे बरें ॥1॥
नाहीं आवडीसी पार । न ह्मणावें जालें फार ॥ध्रु.॥
अमृताची खाणी । उघडली नव्हे धणी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पचे । विठ्ठल हें मुखा साचें॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Though I be born and die again and again, this alone seems good to me. There is no limit to this love; let no one say it has been enough. An inexhaustible mine of nectar has been opened. Says Tuka, the name Vitthal truly fills my mouth.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let me be born and die again and again; even this seems good to me. There is no end to this love; let no one say it has been enough. A mine of nectar has been opened, and it never runs dry. Tuka says: the name Vitthal truly fills my mouth.
What it means
Tukaram measures his love for the Name against the one thing devotees usually dread, the round of birth and death. He says even endless rebirth is fine if it comes with this love, so far does the love outweigh the fear. The love has no boundary, and he warns against ever calling it sufficient; the supply of sweetness is a mine that cannot be emptied. The whole point lands in the last line: the name Vitthal in his mouth is the inexhaustible nectar he is talking about.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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