Vow, never sell the discourse
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मोल घेऊनियां कथा जरी करीं । तरी भंगो हरी देह माझा ॥1॥
माझी कथा करा ऐसें ह्मणें कोणा । तरी झडो जाणा जिव्हा माझी ॥ध्रु.॥
साहए तूं जालासी काय उणें तुपें । आणीक भूतांपें काय मागों ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सर्व सििद्ध तुझे पायीं । तूं माझा गोसावी पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If I ever take payment for performing a sacred discourse, O Hari, may You destroy this body of mine. If I ever ask someone to arrange my discourse, may my tongue fall off. You have become my patron; what then is lacking? Why should I beg from any other being? Says Tuka, all perfection lies at Your feet. You are my master, O Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If I ever take payment for telling the sacred story, O Hari, then break this body of mine. If I ever ask anyone to arrange my discourse, then let my tongue fall off. You have become my support; what then is lacking? Why should I beg from any other being? Tuka says: all fulfillment lies at Your feet. You are my master, O Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram is making a vow about how he will and will not live as a singer of God's story. He swears never to take money for the sacred discourse and never to angle for invitations to perform, and he calls down ruin on his own body and tongue if he breaks it. The vow rests on a reason: God Himself has become his support, so there is nothing left to lack and no one else to beg from. Naming Panduranga as his only master, he is rejecting the temptation to turn devotion into a trade. The kirtan is for God, not for a fee or a reputation.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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