The Name, the boat across existence
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐसी जोडी करा राम कंठीं धरा । जेणें चुके फेरा गर्भवास ॥1॥
नासिवंत आटी िप्रयापुत्रधन । बीज ज्याचा सीण तें चि फळ ॥ध्रु.॥
नाव धड करा सहजरा नामांची । जे भवसिंधूची थडी पावे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे काळा हाणा तोंडावरी । भाता भरा हरिरामबाणीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Make this one investment: keep Rama upon your tongue. By it, the cycle of birth in the womb will cease. The craving for spouse, children, and wealth is perishable; the seed whose nature is toil yields only toil as its fruit. Build a sound boat of the effortless names, a boat that will reach the far shore of the ocean of existence. Says Tuka, strike Death across the face. Fill your quiver with arrows bearing the names of Hari and Rama.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Make this one gain: keep Rama on your throat. By it the round of birth in the womb is broken. The craving for wife, children, and wealth all perishes; the seed that is toil bears only toil as its fruit. Build a sound boat out of the effortless names, a boat that reaches the far shore of the ocean of existence. Tuka says: strike Death across the face. Fill your quiver with arrows of the names of Hari and Rama.
What it means
Tukaram urges one acquisition worth making: keeping Rama on the tongue, which breaks the endless return to the womb. He sets it against the things people actually chase, spouse, children, money, and says these all perish; a seed of toil can only grow into more toil. The Name, by contrast, is a well-built boat of effortless syllables that carries you across the ocean of worldly existence to the far shore. He ends with a fighter's image: do not cower before death; strike it in the face, and load your quiver with the names of Hari and Rama as your arrows.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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