The Name, who it has saved
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अहल्या जेणें तारिली रामें । गणिका परलोका नेली नामें ॥1॥
रामहरे रघुराजहरे । रामहरे महाराजहरे ॥ध्रु.॥
कंठ शीतळ जपतां शूळपाणी । राम जपतां अविनाश भवाणी ॥2॥
तारकमंत्रश्रवण काशी । नाम जपतां वाल्मीक ॠषि ॥3॥
नाम जपें बीज मंत्र नळा । सिंधु तरती ज्याच्या प्रतापें शिळा ॥4॥
नामजप जीवन मुनिजना ॥ तुकयास्वामी रघुनंदना ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Rama saved Ahalya; the Name carried the courtesan to the highest world. Rama, Hari, Raghuraj, Hari. Shiva's throat was cooled by chanting the Name; Bhavani became immortal by repeating it. In Kashi, the dying receive it as the liberating mantra. By chanting, Valmiki became a great sage. Nala received the seed-mantra of the Name, by whose power even stones floated across the sea. The Name is the life-breath of the sages. Says Tuka, Raghunandan is my Lord.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Rama saved Ahalya; the Name carried the courtesan to the highest world. Rama, Hari, Raghuraj, Hari; Rama, Hari, great King, Hari. Shiva's throat was cooled by chanting the Name; Bhavani became deathless by repeating it. In Kashi the dying receive it as the mantra that frees. By chanting it, Valmiki became a great sage. Nala received the seed of the Name, and by its power even stones floated across the sea. The Name is the very life of the sages. Tuka says: Raghunandan is my Lord.
What it means
Tukaram lists who the Name has rescued, and the list is built to show that no one is too low or too far gone. A woman turned to stone, a courtesan, the dying at Kashi, a former robber, and stones themselves that floated when the Name was written on them. The point is the reach of the Name, not the worth of those it reached. Even Shiva and Bhavani are named, so that the practice the poem urges is the same one the gods keep. He ends by claiming Rama as his own Lord, placing himself among the saved.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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