The Name, whoever holds Rama becomes Rama
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
रामरूप केली । रामें कौसल्या माउली ॥1॥
राम राहिला मानसीं । ध्यानीं चिंतनीं जयासी ।
राम होय त्यासी । संदेह नाहीं हा भरवसा ॥ध्रु.॥
अयोध्येचे लोक । राम जाले सकळीक ॥2॥
स्मरतां जानकी । रामरूप जाले कपि ॥3॥
रावणेसी लंका। राम आपण जाला देखा ॥4॥
ऐसा नित्य राम ध्याय । तुका वंदी त्याचे पाय ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Rama made His mother Kausalya into His very own form. Whoever holds Rama in the mind, in meditation and contemplation, becomes Rama. Of this there is no doubt. Hold to this conviction. All the people of Ayodhya became Rama. By remembering Janaki, even the monkeys took on Rama's form. Even Ravana's Lanka: Rama Himself became it. See this. Says Tuka, whoever meditates on Rama thus, without ceasing, I bow at his feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Rama made his mother Kausalya into his own form. Whoever holds Rama in the mind, in meditation, in thought, becomes Rama. There is no doubt in this; hold to it for certain. All the people of Ayodhya became Rama. By remembering Janaki, even the monkeys took on Rama's form. Even Ravana's Lanka: Rama himself became it. See this. Tuka says: whoever meditates on Rama like this, without stopping, I bow at his feet.
What it means
Tukaram makes a sweeping claim: you become what you steadily hold in the mind, and what is held is Rama. He stacks instance on instance to leave no escape from it: the mother, the whole city, the monkeys, even enemy Lanka. Whatever touches Rama, in love or in remembrance, is turned into Rama's own form. The point is not mythology but the law inside it, that ceaseless contemplation of God remakes the one who contemplates. So he ends by bowing not to Rama alone but to anyone who lives that practice, since such a person has already become what they meditate on.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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