Devotion, the Name held through any birth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भलते जन्मीं मज घालिसील तरी । न सोडीं मी हरी नाम तुझें ॥1॥
सुख दुःख तुज देईन भोगितां । मग मज चिंता कासयाची ॥ध्रु.॥
तुझा दास ह्मणवीन मी अंकिला । भोगितां विठ्ठला गर्भवास ॥2॥
कासया मी तुज भाकितों करुणा । तारीं नारायणा ह्मणवुनि ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज येऊं पाहे उणें । तारिसील तेणें आह्मां तया ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Whatever birth You place me in, I will never abandon Your name, O Hari. I offer You both joy and sorrow to endure; then what concern remains for me? I will call myself Your devoted servant, O Vitthal, even while enduring the womb. Why should I plead for mercy, asking You to save me simply because I call You Narayana? Says Tuka, if any lack should come upon You for saving us, then by that very act You will redeem both us and Yourself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Whatever birth You throw me into, I will not let go of Your name, O Hari. I hand You both my joy and my sorrow to bear; then what is left for me to worry about? I will call myself Your servant, Your bondsman, O Vitthal, even while I suffer the womb again. Why should I beg You for mercy, asking You to save me only because I call You Narayana? Tuka says: if any shortfall should come upon You by saving us, then by that very saving You redeem both us and Yourself.
What it means
Tukaram makes an unconditional vow: no matter what birth he is given, he will never release the name of Hari. He surrenders joy and sorrow alike into God's keeping, which empties him of anxiety, and he is content to keep calling himself God's servant even if he must endure the womb again. Then he turns the usual prayer on its head: he will not bargain for rescue simply because he uses God's names. The closing claim is the bold one, that if saving the devotee should somehow diminish God's honor, the very act of saving makes both servant and Lord whole. He stakes everything on belonging to God rather than on getting safety in return.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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