Devotion, let the ego burn
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सर्व काळ डोळां बैसो नारायण । नयो अभिमान आड मध्यें ॥1॥
धाड पडो तुझ्या थोरपणावरि । वाचे नरहरि उच्चारीना ॥ध्रु.॥
जळो अंतरींचें सर्व जाणपण । विवादवचन अहंतेचें ॥2॥
सकळां चरणीं गिळत माझा जीव । तुका ह्मणे भाव एकविध ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
May Narayana dwell in my eyes at all times. Let pride not come between us. May ruin fall upon your false greatness if your tongue does not utter the name of Narahari. Let all the inner cunning of knowledge burn. Let the quarrelsome words of ego burn. Says Tuka, my life bows at the feet of all. My devotion is single-minded.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
May Narayana sit in my eyes at all times. Let pride never come between us. Let ruin fall on your puffed-up greatness if your tongue will not say Narahari. Let all the inner cleverness of knowledge burn. Let the quarreling words of ego burn. Tuka says: my life sinks down at the feet of all. My devotion is single-minded.
What it means
Tukaram prays to keep God constantly before him and asks that nothing, above all his own pride, ever stand between them. He turns sharp against learning that does not lead to God's name: better that such greatness be ruined, such cunning knowledge burned to ash, than that it feed the ego. The fire he calls down is aimed at the quarrelsome self-importance inside, not at any rival person. In its place he sets the opposite posture: bowing low at the feet of all beings, holding to one undivided devotion.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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