Total devotion, all else accursed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुजविण वाणीं आणिकांची थोरी । तरी माझी हरी जिव्हा झडो ॥१॥
तुजविण चित्ता आवडे आणीक । तरी हा मस्तक भंगो माझा ॥ध्रु.॥
नेत्रीं आणिकांसि पाहीन आवडी । जातु ते चि घडी चांडाळ हे ॥२॥
कथामृतपान न करिती श्रवण । काय प्रयोजन मग यांचें ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे काय वांचून कारण । तुज एक क्षण विसंबतां ॥४॥
स्वामींचे स्त्रीनें स्वामींस कठिण उत्तरें केलीं - अभंग ७
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If my tongue ever praises any greatness other than yours, O Hari, then let it fall from my mouth. If my mind ever delights in anything besides you, then let my head be shattered. If my eyes ever gaze upon another with longing, let that very moment be accursed. What use are ears that refuse to drink the nectar of sacred stories? Says Tuka, what is the point of living if I forget you for even a single moment?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If my tongue ever praises the greatness of any other than you, O Hari, then let my tongue fall out. If my mind ever delights in anything but you, then let my head be shattered. If my eyes ever look on another with longing, let that very moment be accursed. What is the use of ears that will not drink the nectar of the sacred stories? Tuka says: what is the point of living if I forget you for even a single moment?
What it means
Tukaram is binding every faculty to Hari alone and cursing it if it strays. He calls down ruin on his own tongue, mind, and eyes should they turn toward anything other than God, and he writes off ears that refuse to listen to the sacred stories. This is not cruelty toward himself but the measure of how complete he wants his devotion to be: nothing held back, no part left for a rival love. The closing line names the stake plainly. A single moment of forgetting God empties life of its whole purpose.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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