o on pilgrimage. Be
watchful in your heart and always sing the name of Hari. Yoga,
sacrifices and renunciation are not needful. Love the feet of Hari.
Neither need you contemplate the absolute. Hold fast to the love of
Hari's name. Says Nama, be steadfast in singing the name and then Hari
will appear to you."[642]

Tukaram is better known than Namdev and his poetry which was part of
the intellectual awakening that accompanied the rise of the Maratha
power is still a living force wherever Marathi is spoken. He lived
from 1607 to 1649 and was born in a family of merchants near Poona.
But he was too generous to succeed in trade and a famine, in which one
of his two wives died, brought him to poverty. Thenceforth he devoted
himself to praying and preaching. He developed a great aptitude for
composing rhyming songs in irregular metre,[643] and like Caitanya he
held services consisting of discourses interspersed with such songs,
prepared or extempore. In spite of persecution by the Brahmans, these
meetings became very popular and were even attended by the great
Sivaji.

His creed is the same as that of Namdev and finds expression in verses
such as these. "This thy nature is beyond the grasp of mind or words,
and therefore I have made love a measure. I measure the Endless by the
measure of love: he is not to be truly measured otherwise. Thou art
not to be found by Yoga, sacrifice, fasting, bodily exertions or
knowledge. O Kesava, accept the service which we render."

But if he had no use for asceticism he also feared the passions. "The
Endless is beyond; between him and me are the lofty mountains of
desire and anger. I cannot ascend them and find no pass." In poems
which are apparently later, his tone is more peaceful. He speaks much
of the death of self, of purity of heart, and of self-dedication to
God. "Dedicate all you do to God and have done with it: Tuka says, do
not ask me again and again: nothing else is to be taught but this."

Maratha critics have discussed whether Tukaram followed the monistic
philosophy of Sankara or not and it must be confessed that his
utterances are contradictory. But the gist of the matter is that he
disliked not so much monism as philosophy. Hence he says "For me there
is no use in the Advaita. Sweet to me is the service of thy feet. The
relation between God and his devotee is a source of high joy. Make me
feel this, keeping me distinct from thee." But he can also say almost
in the langua