The Name, joy in the saints' company
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुख या संतसमागमें । नित्य दुनावे तुझिया नामें । दहन होती सकळ कर्में । सर्वकाळ प्रेमें डुलतसों ॥1॥
ह्मणोनि नाहीं कांहीं चिंता । तूं चि आमुचा मातापिता । बहिणी बंधु आणि चुलता । आणिकां गोतां सर्वांठायीं ॥2॥
ऐसा हा कळला निर्धार। मा माझा तुज न पडे विसर । अससी देऊनियां धीर । बाहए अभ्यंतर मजजवळा ॥3॥
दुःख तें कैसें नये स्वप्नासी । भुक्तिमुक्ति जाल्या कामारी दासी । त्यांचें वर्म तूं आह्मांपाशीं । सुखें राहिलासी प्रेमाचिया ॥4॥
जेथें तुझ्या कीर्तनाचा घोष । जळती पापें पळती दोष । काय तें उणें आह्मां आनंदास । सेवूं ब्रह्मरस तुका ह्मणे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the company of saints, joy grows ever greater through Your Name. All karmas are burned away, and I sway in love at all times. Therefore I have no worry at all. You alone are our mother and father, sister, brother, uncle, and every relation in every place. This certainty has become clear to me, and so You will not forget me. You abide giving me courage, outwardly and inwardly, always near me. Sorrow cannot even approach my dreams. Liberation and worldly enjoyment have become servants to me. Their secret rests with You, dwelling within us in the joy of love. Where the sound of Your kirtan resounds, sins are burned and faults flee. What lack could there be in our bliss? Says Tuka, we drink the nectar of Brahman.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Joy grows in the company of the saints, doubling day by day through your Name. All my deeds are burned to ash, and I sway in love at every hour. So I have no worry at all. You alone are my mother and father, sister, brother, and uncle, and every relation in every place. This certainty has become clear to me, and so you will not forget me. You stay close, giving me courage, outside and within, always near. Sorrow cannot even enter my dreams. Liberation and worldly enjoyment have become my serving maids. Their secret rests with you, who live within us in the joy of love. Where the sound of your kirtan rings out, sins burn and faults run away. What could be missing from our bliss? Tuka says: we drink the nectar of Brahman.
What it means
This is the bright counterpart to the poems of dread: in the company of saints and the singing of the Name, the world's terror simply has no foothold. Tukaram says the Name burns away his accumulated deeds and replaces every family tie with God alone, so that he carries no worry. He makes a startling reversal of the usual spiritual goal: liberation itself, along with worldly enjoyment, now waits on him like a servant, because their secret belongs to the God who lives within. Where kirtan resounds, sin and fault flee on their own. The verse ends in the fullness it describes, the taste of Brahman, with nothing left to lack.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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