Singing the Name, the rising tide of love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गायनाचे रंगीं । शक्ति अद्भुत हे अंगीं ॥1॥
हें तों देणें तुमचें देवा । घ्यावी अखंडित सेवा ॥ध्रु.॥
अंगीं प्रेमाचें भरतें । नाहीं उतार चढतें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वाणी । नाम अमृताची खाणी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the rapture of sacred song, a wondrous power comes over the body. This is Your gift, O God: accept this unbroken service. The tide of love rises within and never ebbs, only increasing. Says Tuka, the Name from the tongue is a mine of nectar.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the rapture of song a wondrous power comes over the body. This is your gift, O God; let me give you unbroken service. The tide of love rises in me. It never ebbs; it only climbs higher. Tuka says: the Name on the tongue is a mine of nectar.
What it means
Tukaram speaks from inside the act of singing, where a strange power floods the body as the bhajan rises. He refuses to claim it as his own attainment; it is God's gift, and his only response is to ask that the service never break off. The love it raises is a tide that does not turn, only swells higher and higher. The reason, he says, is in the Name itself: spoken aloud, it is an inexhaustible mine of nectar, so the source can never run dry.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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