The Name above all rites, and harm none
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तप तीर्थ दान व्रत आचरण । गातां हरिगुण वारूं नये ॥1॥
कोटि कुळें त्याचीं वाटुली पाहाती । त्या तया घडती ब्रह्महत्या ॥ध्रु.॥
आपुलिया पापें न सुटे सायासें । कोणा काळें ऐसें निस्तरेल ॥2॥
व्हावें साहए तया न घलावें भय । फुकासाटीं पाहे लाभ घात ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे हित माना या वचना ॥सुख दुःख जाणा साधे फुका ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
While performing austerities, pilgrimages, charity, vows, and all observances, one must not stop singing the praises of Hari. Countless generations of those who do will wait in vain, and the transgression of Brahma-murder accrues to them. One who cannot rid oneself of personal wrongdoing through effort: how will one ever be free by such means? Be helpful to others and do not frighten them. See, it costs nothing, yet both gain and loss hinge on it. Says Tuka, heed this counsel. Know that joy and sorrow are governed for free.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
While you do austerities, pilgrimages, charity, vows, every observance, do not stop singing the praises of Hari. Crores of generations of those who stop will wait in vain, and the guilt of Brahma-murder falls on them. One who cannot be freed of his own sins by effort: by what means, in what age, will he ever cross over? Be a help to others; do not put fear into them. See, it costs nothing, yet both gain and loss hang on it. Tuka says: take this counsel as your good. Know that joy and sorrow are settled for free.
What it means
Tukaram subordinates the whole machinery of religious works to one thing: never let the singing of Hari's praise stop, even mid-ritual. He warns that to abandon that singing is a ruin so deep he weighs it against Brahma-murder, the gravest of guilts, because effort and rites alone cannot scrub a man's own sin clean. Then he turns from ritual to conduct and names the real test: be of help to others and put fear into no one. He marks how cheap it is, it costs nothing, yet a person's whole gain or loss turns on it. The counsel he presses is that joy and sorrow are decided not by elaborate, expensive observance but by the free acts of remembering God and refusing to harm.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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