The Name, service from where you sit
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सेवा ते आवडी उच्चारावें नाम । भेदाभेदकाम निवारूनि ॥1॥
न लगे हालावें चालावें बाहेरी । अवघें चि घरीं बैसलिया ॥ध्रु.॥
देवाचीं च नामें देवाचिये शिरीं । सर्व अळंकारीं समर्पावीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आहे भावें चि संतोषी । वसे नामापाशीं आपुलिया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The truest service is to utter the Name with love, setting aside all concern of duality and non-duality. There is no need to stir or go anywhere outside; everything is right here, simply sitting at home. Offer all the names of God, like ornaments, upon God's own head. Says Tuka, God is content with devotion alone and dwells near his own Name.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The truest service is to say the Name with love, putting aside all worry about difference and non-difference. You need not stir or go anywhere outside. Everything is right here, simply sitting at home. Offer all of God's names back upon God's own head, like ornaments. Tuka says: God is satisfied with devotion alone, and he dwells right beside his own Name.
What it means
Tukaram strips worship down to its core: the real service is to utter God's Name lovingly, dropping the head-debates about oneness and difference that go nowhere. He insists this needs no journey and no outward effort; the whole work is done sitting at home. The names of God are themselves ornaments, and you give them back by laying them on God's own head, returning to him what is already his. The reassurance at the end is the key: God asks for devotion and nothing more, and he is never far off, because he lives right next to his own Name on your tongue.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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