The Name, asking nothing but the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जरि न भरे पोट । तरि सेवूं दरकूट ॥1॥
परि न घलूं तुज भार । हा चि आमुचा निर्धार ॥ध्रु.॥
तुझें नाम अमोलिक। नेणती हे ब्रह्मादिक ॥2॥
ऐसें नाम तुझें खरें । तुका ह्मणे भासे पुरें॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If my stomach is not filled, I will eat dry crusts. But I will not place any burden upon You. This is my firm resolve. Your name is priceless; even Brahma and the gods cannot know its full worth. Says Tuka, Your name is genuinely real. It feels sufficient and complete.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If my stomach is not filled, then I will eat dry crusts. But I will not lay any burden on You. This is my firm resolve. Your name is beyond price. Even Brahma and the gods do not know its full worth. Such is Your name, truly real. Tuka says: it feels enough; it feels complete.
What it means
Tukaram makes a vow about what he will and will not ask of God. He will accept hunger and dry crusts rather than press God for his bodily needs, because he refuses to lay any burden on the one he loves. What he wants instead is the Name, which he calls priceless, a worth that even Brahma and the gods cannot fully measure. The point is a reordering of need: the Name alone is real and sufficient, so the cravings of the stomach can be left to fend for themselves. He ends in quiet contentment, the Name feels enough, it feels complete.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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