Tukaram

Tukaram (तुकाराम), respectfully referred to as Shri Tukaram, and colloqially referd to as "Tuka" (तुका) was a seventeenth century marathi poet saint of India, with a very great stature in the Bhakti movement of Maharashtra, so much so that in the popular mind he is the very peak of that centuries long outbreak of love for god. The days of his life are contentious with scholars assigning various dates to his birth. The four most popular options are 1568, 1577 1608 and 1598 AD, so we do have a wide choice. There is lesser dispute that he died in 1650 AD, a public event wherein he was supposed to have bodily been lifted up to salvation by his favorite deity, Vithobha of Pandharpur, who was a variant of Krishna. As to the rest his poetry did the talking and it still.

He is considerd one of the favoraite saints of Maharashtra especially the Varkari sampradaya (community).

Tukaram was a great devotee of Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, the supreme God in Vaishnavism

He was born in Dehu, very close to modern Pune city in Maharashtra. His father was a small trader or peddler and he was barely literate all his life. He was married early on in life as was the custom, but the girl was sickly and they married him off again so that he could have somebody to look after both of them.

He used to write a particular verse form called the abhanga, a run on couplet with three and a half feet with the first three rhyming. In the use of this poetic device he was unrivalled, and others have practically left it alone after him in tacit acknowledgment there is nothing more that can be done with it.
He also used to add his signature Tuka Mhane or "Tuka Says" at the end of each verse.

Typical of the Varkari sampradaya where samaj seva (service to the community) and hari sankirtan (group worship through music) was the Way, Tukaram made it his call to work for group enlightenment rather than just for himself. In that sense he was very much a bodhisattva.

Basic Tenets of His Message

Make God the Center of your life. Walk the Path of Love. Serve mankind and thus see God in all.

Cast away one's clothes of traditions that one has inherited for often those can bind you from growing in Love of God.

He did not favour elaborate rituals, displays of asceticism and pre-occupation with austerities. He would say -even dogs come in saffron colour and bears have matted fur. If living in caves is being spiritual then rats do who inhabit caves must be doing sadhana.

He was opposed to the acquiring of siddhis as these were obstructions to authentic sadhana.

Faith in Providence was crucial to sadhana. He believed that He who facilitates the milk from the breast for the infant and the one permits the bursting of foliage from the branches will certainly take care of me.

Most important of all was the Privilege of being a Bhakta and to exercise in life, nama japa. He would say that even God does not know the value of his name. Even God is not aware of the power of his name. How can he be ? The lotus cannot smell its own fragrance, only the bee can. The cow knows not the sweetness of its milk, only the calf can. The oyster knows not the value of its pearl, only the jeweler can.

Translation of some of his Works

God and Me

I wind up the thread and release the kite to the sky.

I have pawned myself to preserve my selfhood.

My debt is secure with interest.

Where there is seed there will the sprout be.

Preserving its capacity for growth.

Tuka says I serve with certainty that,

God is not other than me.

Human pittance

A monkey puts its hand in a vessel containing peanuts.

After taking peanuts in its hand it cannot take out its hand as the mouth of the vessel is not big enough.

The monkey for the sake of handful of peanuts does not go away and is caught.

A parrot sits on a string laid by the hunter.

The string inverts its position and so is the parrot. Due to fear the parrot firmly grasps the string and forgets that it has two wings to fly away.

The parrot is caught ultimately.

Tuka says that it is not surprising if creatures without conscious intelligence behave like this.

It is surprising to see human beings forgoing their greatest interest for a pittance.

Smaller than an atom

All creatures are divine to me.

I have transcended Time and Space.

I shall never be born again.

I am smaller than an atom.

Yet have I expanded beyond Space itself.

What is left of Tuka, is only for,

The benefit of others.

Books

Shri Tukaram Gatha, is a compilation of all his poetic/literary works.

Tukaram

Tukaram

Basic Tenets of His Message

Translation of some of his Works

Books

See also

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