Belonging, the Name worn as ornament
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुझा शरणागत । जन्मोजन्मींचा अंकित ॥1॥
आणीक नेणें कांहीं हेवा । तुजवांचूनि केशवा ॥ध्रु.॥
हें चि माझें गाणें । तुझें नामसंकीर्तन ॥2॥
तुझ्या नामाचीं भूषणें । तुका म्हणे ल्यालों लेणें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am Your devotee, marked as Yours through birth after birth. I know no other longing, O Keshava, apart from You. This alone is my song: the chanting of Your Name. Says Tuka, I have put on Your Name as my ornament, wearing it as my finest jewel.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have taken refuge in You; I am marked as Yours through birth after birth. I know no other longing, O Keshava, apart from You. This alone is my song: the singing of Your Name. Tuka says: I have put on Your Name as my ornament, worn it as my finest jewel.
What it means
Tukaram declares an unbroken belonging. He has thrown himself on God's protection and counts himself stamped as God's own across every lifetime, not just this one. He insists he has no other desire pulling at him; Keshava is the whole of his wanting. His only song is the chanting of the Name, and in the close he treats that Name not as a duty but as adornment, the jewelry he chooses to wear, so devotion becomes the thing that makes him beautiful.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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