The Name, refusing heaven for the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न लगे देवा तुझें आह्मांसी वैकुंठ । सायुज्याचा पट न लगे मज ॥1॥
देई तुझें नाम मज सर्वकाळीं । मागेन वनमाळीहें चि तुज ॥ध्रु.॥
नारद तुंबर उद्धव प्रल्हाद । बळी रुक्मांगद नाम ध्याती ॥2॥
सिद्ध मुनिगण गंधर्व किन्नर । करिताती गजर रामनामें॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे हरी देई तुझें नाम । अखंडित प्रेम हें चि द्यावें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I do not want Your Vaikuntha, O Lord. The garment of union with the Absolute is not for me. Give me Your name for all time; this alone I will ask of You, O Vanamali. Narada, Tumbara, Uddhava, Prahlada, Bali, and Rukmangada all meditate on the Name. Siddhas, sages, gandharvas, and kinnars raise the chant of Rama's name. Says Tuka, O Hari, give me Your name. Grant me this unbroken love and nothing else.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I do not want your Vaikuntha, Lord. The robe of union with the Absolute is not for me. Give me your name for all time. This alone I will ask of you, Vanamali. Narada, Tumbara, Uddhava, Prahlada, Bali, and Rukmangada all meditate on the Name. The siddhas, the company of sages, the gandharvas, the kinnaras, all raise the cry of Rama's name. Tuka says: Hari, give me your name. Grant me this unbroken love, and nothing else.
What it means
Tukaram refuses the highest rewards a devotee can be offered and asks for one thing only. He turns down Vaikuntha and even sayujya, the merging into the Absolute that scriptures treat as the final goal, calling that union a garment he does not want. What he wants instead is God's name held always, and that is his entire request. He backs it by naming the great devotees and the heavenly hosts who themselves choose to chant the Name rather than rest in liberation, so his choice stands in good company. The close states the price and the prize together: he asks for the Name and an unbroken love for it, and refuses everything else.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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