TUKKARAM POEMS

Words are the only Jewels I possess
Words are the only Clothes that I wear
Words are the only food That sustains my life
Words are the only wealth I distribute among people
Says Tuka Witness the Word He is God
I worship Him With my words

*******


He who utters the Name of God while walking
gets the merit of a sacrifice at every step
His body becomes a place of pilgrimage.
He who repeats God’s Name while working
always finds perfect peace.

******


If men are habitations of God, we should fall at their feet
But we should leave alone their habits and goals.
Fire is good to drive away cold
But you must not tie it up
And carry it around in a cloth.
Tuka says, "A scorpion or a snake is a habitation of Narayana;
You may worship Him from afar, but you must not touch Him."

******

First He looked confused


I could not lie anymore so I started to call my dog "God."
First he looked
confused,

then he started smiling, then he even
danced.

I kept at it: now he doesn't even
bite.

I am wondering if this
might work on
people?

*****

Take, Lord, unto Thyself

My sense of self; and let it vanish utterly.



Take, Lord, my life,

Live Thou my life through me.



I live no longer, Lord,

But in me now

Thou livest.



Aye, between Thee and me, my God,

There is no longer room for “I” and “mine.”

******

How Could a Lover Fall?
What could have caused your grip to weaken
that allowed creation to be?

How could a lover fall to his death
from the arms of infinite
strength?

How active you are in the mind sustaining such a great wall
that the sun can cast a frightening shadow
the world believes.

No one has ever really known sadness. No real God
would ever allow pain.

How then can a heart feel it is broken and in need
If we are held in the arms of infinite
compassion and
strength?

The mirror you (God) stand before -
we need to gaze into it also.

That name you called Beloved
as I fell from your lips -
I suffer

because I did not quite
hear it;

so tell me again dear One
so clear:

I am
you.

*****

When I lose Myself
When thus I lose myself in Thee, my God,
Then do I see, and know,

That all Thy universe reveals Thy beauty,

All living beings, and all lifeless things,

Exist through Thee.



This whole vast world is but the form

In which Thous showest us Thyself,

Is but the voice
In which Thyself Thou speakest unto us.



What need of words?

Come, Master, come,

And fill me wholly with Thyself.







- Tukaram

- From John S.Hoyland,