Exhortation, the open door of the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐकें रे जना तुझ्या स्वहिताच्या खुणा । पंढरीचा राणा मनामाजी स्मरावा ॥1॥
मग कैचें रे बंधन वाचे गातां नारायण। भवसिंधु तो जाण ये चि तीरी सरेल ॥ध्रु.॥
दास्य करील किळकाळ बंद तुटेल मायाजाळ । होतील सकळ रििद्धसिद्धी ह्मणियारीं ॥2॥
सकळशास्त्रांचें सार हें वेदांचें गव्हर । पाहातां विचार हा चि करिती पुराणें ॥3॥
ब्राह्मण क्षेत्री वैश्य शूद्र चांडाळां आहे अधिकार । बाळें नारीनर आदि करोनि वेश्या ही ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे अनुभवें आह्मीं पाडियलें ठावें । आणीक ही दैवें सुख घेती भाविकें ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Listen, O people: here are the marks of your true welfare. Hold the Lord of Pandhari within your mind, and remember Him always. Then what bondage can there be? Singing the name of Narayana, this ocean of worldly becoming will recede to this very shore. The shrieking death-force will serve you as a slave. The net of illusion will be broken. All riddhi-siddhi will come at your bidding. This is the essence of all the scriptures, the innermost core of the Vedas. All the Puranas arrive at this one conclusion. Brahmin, warrior, merchant, laborer, the most shunned: all have authority here. Children, women, men, and even the courtesan. Says Tuka, we have proven this through our own experience. Other fortunate souls too shall taste this joy, through devotion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Listen, people, here are the marks of your own good. Remember the Lord of Pandhari in your mind. Then what bondage is left? Singing the name of Narayana, the ocean of worldly life drains away at this very shore. The force of death will serve you like a slave; the net of illusion will break; every power will come at your call. This is the essence of all scriptures, the inner core of the Vedas. Look, and the Puranas reach this same conclusion. Brahmin, warrior, merchant, laborer, the lowest outcaste: all have the right to it. Children, women, men, even the courtesan. Tuka says: we have proved it by our own experience. Other fortunate, faithful souls will taste this joy too.
What it means
Tukaram is preaching the path of the Name and stripping away every barrier to it. Hold the Lord of Pandhari in mind and sing Narayana, he says, and the bondage of the world dissolves right here, not in some far heaven; death itself becomes a servant and illusion falls apart. He grounds the claim in authority, calling this the single point on which all the Vedas and Puranas converge. Then comes his most radical turn: this right belongs to everyone, naming caste by caste down to the most shunned, and including children, women, and even the courtesan, the people religion usually shuts out. He seals it not with citation but with witness: we know this because we have lived it, and others will too.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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