The Name, the easy ship across
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गायें नाचें वायें टाळी । साधन कळी उत्तम हें ॥1॥
काय जाणों तरले किती । नाव ऐती या बैसा ॥ध्रु.॥
सायासाचें नाहीं काम । घेतां नाम विठोबाचें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे निर्वाणीचें । शस्त्र साचें हें एक ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Singing, dancing, clapping the hands: this is the best spiritual practice for this present age. Who knows how many have been saved by it? Board this very ship and cross over. No strenuous labor is required when you take the name of Vithoba. Says Tuka, this alone is the one true weapon for the final reckoning.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Sing, dance, clap your hands: this is the best practice for this age. Who knows how many have crossed over by it? Board this very ship and cross. No hard labor is needed when you take Vithoba's name. Tuka says: this alone is the one true weapon for the final hour.
What it means
Tukaram is offering the simplest path and pressing it on the listener. In this present age, he says, the highest spiritual practice is also the most open: to sing and dance and clap the divine name. Countless people have already crossed the ocean of the world this way, so he tells you to step aboard the same ship at once. Taking Vithoba's name asks no strenuous effort, no elaborate discipline. And in the last extremity, the hour of death, this Name is the one real weapon that holds.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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