The Name, your open work
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नामाचें चिंतन प्रगट पसारा । असाल तें करा जेथें तेथें ॥1॥
सोडवील माझा स्वामी निश्चयेसीं । प्रतिज्ञा हे दासीं केली आह्मीं ॥ध्रु.॥
गुण दोष नाहीं पाहात कीर्तनीं । प्रेमें चक्रपाणी वश्य होय ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कडु वाटतो प्रपंच । रोकडे रोमांच कंठ दाटे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let the contemplation of the Name be your open enterprise. Wherever you are, do what you can. My Lord will surely set us free; this is the pledge we devotees have made. In kirtan, He does not weigh merit or fault; through love, Chakrapani is won over. Says Tuka, worldly life tastes bitter, but at the Name, goosebumps rise and the throat chokes with emotion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let remembering the Name be your open work. Wherever you are, do what you can. My Lord will surely set us free; this is the pledge we servants have made. In kirtan He does not weigh your merits or your faults; through love Chakrapani is won. Tuka says: worldly life tastes bitter. At the Name, goosebumps rise and the throat chokes.
What it means
Tukaram makes the practice simple and portable: remember the Name wherever you happen to be, with whatever you have. He answers the worry about worthiness directly. In kirtan God does not audit your good and bad deeds; He is won by love alone, so no one is shut out for being a sinner. The bitterness of worldly life is set against the body's own response to the Name, the rising goosebumps and the choked throat, as evidence that this love is real and already at work.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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