Devotion past works, God who is never spent
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय करूं कर्माकर्म । बरें सांपडलें वर्म ॥1॥
होसी नामा च सारिका । समजाविली नाहीं लेखा ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं वेचावेच जाला । उरला आहेसी संचला ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझें । काय होईल तुह्मां ओझें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What need have I for debates about action and inaction? I have found the secret. You are like a myna bird of the Name, beyond all counting. There is no spending and no loss; You remain ever full. Says Tuka, what burden of mine could weigh upon You?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What shall I do with debates about action and inaction? I have found the secret. You are like a myna bird of the Name, beyond all counting. There is no spending and no losing in you; you stay forever full. Tuka says: what burden of mine could ever weigh on you?
What it means
Tukaram sets aside the endless arguments about right action and renunciation, saying he has found the real secret underneath them. The secret is the Name, repeated freely like a bird's song, past all reckoning and bookkeeping. He fixes on God's inexhaustibility: nothing you draw from God diminishes him; he stays full no matter how much is taken. So the question that ends the poem is almost a laugh: if you can never be spent or burdened, why would my sins or needs be too heavy for you to carry?
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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