The Name purifies, God follows the devotee
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पवित्र तो देह वाणी पुण्यवंत । जो वदे अच्युत सर्व काळ ॥1॥
तयाच्या चिंतनें तरतील दोषी । जळतील रासी पातकाच्या ॥ध्रु.॥
देव इच्छी रज चरणींची माती । धांवत चालती मागें मागें ॥2॥
काय त्यां उरलें वेगळें आणीक । वैकुंठनायक जयां कंठीं ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे देवभक्तांचा संगम । तेथें ओघ नाम त्रिवेणीचा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Sacred is the body, and blessed is the tongue that utters Achyuta's name at all times. By his contemplation, even the guilty and faulty ones are carried across, and heaps of sin are burned to ash. God himself desires the dust of such a devotee's feet and follows eagerly behind. What else remains for those who carry the Lord of Vaikuntha at their throats? Says Tuka, the meeting of God and devotee is itself the Triveni, the confluence where the stream of the Name flows.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Sacred is the body, and blessed is the tongue that utters Achyuta's name at all times. By thinking of him, even the guilty are carried across, and heaps of sin are burned to ash. God himself longs for the dust of such a devotee's feet, and runs eagerly behind him. What else is left to gain for those who carry the Lord of Vaikuntha at their throats? Tuka says: the meeting of God and devotee is itself the Triveni, where the stream of the Name flows.
What it means
Tukaram declares that the Name does not merely cleanse the devotee; it reverses the usual order between God and the worshipper. The body and tongue that hold Achyuta's name are themselves sacred, and even the guilty are ferried over while their stores of sin burn away. Then comes the bold turn: God himself craves the dust of the devotee's feet and chases after him. For one who carries the Lord at the throat there is nothing further to seek, because the simple meeting of God and devotee is already the holiest confluence, a Triveni made of the Name.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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