Devotion, time well spent in the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काळ सार्थक केला त्यांणी । धरिला मनीं विठ्ठल॥1॥
नाम वाचे श्रवण कीिर्त्त । पाउलें चित्तीं समान ॥ध्रु.॥
कीर्त्तनाचा समारंभ । निदपभ सर्वदा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे स्वरूपसििद्ध । नित्य समाधि हरिनामीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
They have made good use of their time who have held Vitthal in their chitta. The Name is on their lips, glory fills their ears, and His feet rest steadily in their minds. They conduct kirtan ceaselessly and without blemish, at all times. Says Tuka, the realization of the true Self, the unbroken samadhi, is found in Hari's Name.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
They have made their time worth something who have held Vitthal in the heart. The Name is on their lips, His glory in their ears, His feet steady in their minds. They keep up kirtan always, without blemish, at every hour. Tuka says: the realization of the true Self, the unbroken samadhi, is in the Name of Hari.
What it means
Tukaram answers what it means to have lived a life well: not by any worldly measure, but by having kept Vitthal fixed in the heart. He sketches a life saturated with the Name, on the lips, His glory in the ears, His feet steady in the mind, with kirtan going on without break or blemish. Then he makes the large claim plain: the goal that others seek by hard discipline, realization of the true Self and unbroken samadhi, is found right here, inside Hari's Name. The Name is not a beginner's step toward the depth; it is the depth.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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