The Name as family duty, refusing even liberation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मां वैष्णवांचा कुळधर्म कुळींचा । विश्वास नामाचा एका भावें ॥1॥
तरी च हरिचेदास ह्मणवितां श्लाघीजे । निर्वासना कीजे चित्त आधी ॥ध्रु.॥
गाऊं नाचूं प्रेमें आनंदें कीर्तनीं । भुक्ति मुक्ति दोन्ही न मगों तुज ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा ऐसी यांची सेवा। द्यावी जी केशवा जन्मोजन्मीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Our ancestral duty, the heritage of our Vaishnava clan, is faith in the Name with single-pointed devotion. Only then can one truly claim to be a servant of Hari; first make the mind free of desire. We will sing and dance with love and bliss in kirtan; we ask You for neither worldly enjoyment nor liberation. Says Tuka, O Keshava, grant us this service of the saints, birth after birth.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Our family duty, the inheritance of our Vaishnava line, is faith in the Name with single feeling. Only then can you rightly be called a servant of Hari; first make the mind free of desire. We will sing and dance with love and joy in the kirtan. We ask You for neither worldly pleasure nor liberation. Tuka says: O Keshava, grant us this service, birth after birth.
What it means
Tukaram presents devotion to the Name as something inherited, the duty of his Vaishnava clan, held with whole-hearted faith. He sets a condition under the boast: you can only call yourself Hari's servant once the mind has been emptied of desire. Then comes the radical refusal: in the joy of kirtan he wants neither worldly enjoyment nor even liberation, the two prizes most seekers chase. What he asks for instead is the service itself, the singing and dancing before God, and he asks for it not once but in every birth to come.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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