The Name, free and above the Vedas
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाशवंत देह नासेल हा जाणा । कां रे उच्चाराना वाचे नाम ॥1॥
नामें चि तारिले कोटएान हे कोटी । नामें हे वैकुंठी बैसविले ॥ध्रु.॥
नामापरतें सार नाहीं त्रिभुवनीं । तें कां तुह्मी मनीं आठवाना ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाम वेदांसी आगळें । तें दिलें गोपाळें फुकासाटीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This perishable body will surely perish. Why then do you not utter the Name with your tongue? Through the Name alone, crores upon crores have been saved. Through the Name, they have been seated in Vaikuntha. There is no greater essence in the three worlds than the Name. Why then do you not remember it in the mind? Says Tuka, the Name surpasses even the Vedas, and Gopala has given it away for free.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This perishable body will surely perish; know that. Why then will your tongue not utter the Name? By the Name alone, crores upon crores have been carried across. By the Name they have been seated in Vaikuntha. In the three worlds there is no essence greater than the Name. Why then do you not remember it in your mind? Tuka says: the Name surpasses even the Vedas, and Gopala has given it away for free.
What it means
Tukaram presses the urgent question to a reluctant listener: the body is going to die, so why waste a tongue that could be saying the Name? He stacks the evidence, countless beings already saved and seated in Vaikuntha by the Name alone, to show this is the one essence worth anything in all three worlds. The reproach is gentle but real: the means of rescue is right there in the mouth and the mind, and people still neglect it. The boldest claim comes last. The Name stands higher than the Vedas themselves, the texts the learned guard and gatekeep, and yet Gopala has handed it out at no cost, to anyone, free. The hardest study and the simplest cry are not equal; the simple cry wins.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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