The Name, the road to Vaikuntha thrown open
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उगविल्या गुंती । ऐशा मागें नेणों किती ॥1॥
ख्यात केली अजामेळें । होतें निघालें दिवाळें ॥ध्रु.॥
मोकलिला प्रायिश्चतीं । कोणी न धरिती हातीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मुक्त वाट । वैकुंठीची घडघडाट ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How many such knots have been untied before this, I do not know. Ajamela made the case famous: even his complete ruin was reversed. Released from all need for penance, none could hold him back. Says Tuka, the road to Vaikuntha was thrown wide open with a thunderous rumble.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How many such knots have been untied before this, I do not know. Ajamela made the case famous: even his utter ruin was turned around. He was freed from all need for penance, and no one could hold him back. Tuka says: the road to Vaikuntha was thrown wide open, with a thunderous roar.
What it means
Tukaram points to the power of the Name by counting up the lives it has already untangled, too many to know. He names the famous case of Ajamila, a man whose life had collapsed into complete ruin, and yet was reversed when he uttered the divine name at the end. The Name freed him so completely that no penance was required and nothing could drag him back. The closing image is triumphant: the gate to Vaikuntha did not just open quietly, it swung wide with a thunderous roar, as if to announce that the worst sinner had been let through.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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