Saints, the free ones who carry Hari's nature
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हरि तैसे हरीचे दास । नाहीं तयां भय मोह चिंता आस। होउनि राहाती उदास । बळकट कांस भक्तीची ॥1॥
धरूनि पाय तजिलें जन । न लगे मान मृित्तकाधन । कंठीं नाम अमृताचें पान। न लगे आन ऐसें जालें ॥ध्रु.॥
वाव तरी उदंड च पोटीं । धीर सिंधु ऐसे जगजेठी । कामक्रोधा न सुटे मिठी । वेठी तरी गिहे राबवीती ॥2॥
बळें तरि नांगवती काळा । लीन तरि सकळांच्या तळा । उदार देहासी सकळा । जाणोनि कळा सर्व नेणते ॥3॥
संसार तो तयांचा दास । मोक्ष तें पाहातसे वास । रििद्धसििद्ध देशटा त्रास । न शिवति यास वैष्णवजन ॥4॥
जन्ममृत्युस्वप्नांसारिखें । आप त्यां न दिसे पारखें । तुका ह्मणे अखंडित सुखें । वाणी वदे मुखें प्रेमा अमृताची ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The servants of Hari are just like Hari Himself. They have no fear, no attachment, no worry, no craving. They remain detached, holding firmly to the rope of devotion. Having clasped His feet, they have abandoned worldly concerns. They need no honor or earthly riches. With the Name as nectar upon their lips, they desire nothing else. Their hearts are vast and spacious; their patience is deep as the ocean. These lords of the world have subjugated lust and anger, making them labor as household servants. In strength they overpower even Death, yet in humility they are the lowest of the low. They are generous with their bodies to all, and though they know all arts, they remain as the unknowing. Worldly life itself becomes their servant, and liberation waits upon them eagerly. Miraculous powers circle them like anxious attendants yet cannot touch these devotees of Vishnu. Birth and death are like dreams to them; nothing appears foreign to their eyes. Says Tuka, in unbroken happiness their tongues speak the nectar of love.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The servants of Hari are just like Hari himself. They have no fear, no attachment, no worry, no craving. They stay unconcerned, gripping the rope of devotion hard. They have caught his feet and left the world behind. They want no honor and no earthly riches. With the Name as nectar on their lips, they desire nothing else. Their hearts are wide and open; their patience is deep as the sea. These lords of the world have crushed lust and anger and set them to work like household servants. In strength they overpower even Death; in humbleness they lie below everyone. They are open-handed with their own bodies to all, and though they know every art, they live as if they know nothing. Worldly life becomes their servant; liberation waits eagerly on them. Powers and perfections circle them like nervous attendants and cannot touch these devotees of Vishnu. Birth and death are like dreams to them; nothing looks foreign to their eyes. Tuka says: in unbroken happiness their tongues speak the nectar of love.
What it means
Tukaram describes what the saint has become: so wholly given to Hari that he takes on Hari's own nature, free of fear, craving, and worry. The freedom is concrete. Lust and anger, which rule most people, have been mastered and put to labor like servants; honor and wealth hold no pull; even death is overpowered while the saint lies humbly below everyone. The point is that liberation and miraculous powers, the very goals others chase, now wait on the saint and cannot touch him, because he wanted only the Name. Seeing birth and death as passing dreams and nothing as foreign, he lives in steady happiness, and what overflows is not power but love. The poem holds this up not to flatter saints but to show what devotion does to a person.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
More in this theme →