The Name, caste dissolved in Brahman
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ज्यासी आवडी हरिनामांची । तो चि एक बहु शुचि ॥1॥
जपतो हरिनामें बीज । तो चि वर्णांमाजी द्विज ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वर्णा धर्म । अवघें आहे सम ब्रह्म ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Whoever loves the name of Hari is truly the most pure among all. The one who chants Hari's name as a sacred seed is the true twice-born among all classes. Says Tuka, the dharma of all castes is one, for all is equal Brahman.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Whoever loves the names of Hari is truly the most pure of all. The one who chants Hari's name as the sacred seed is the real twice-born among the castes. Tuka says: the dharma of all castes is one, for everything is the same Brahman.
What it means
Tukaram takes the markers of ritual purity and rank and hands them to love alone. The one who is truly pure is not the one born high, but the one whose heart loves the Name; the true Brahmin, the real twice-born, is whoever holds Hari's name as the seed-syllable of his life. Then he names the ground under the claim: there is finally one dharma for all castes, because all of it, every person and rank, is the one equal Brahman. The line quietly abolishes the hierarchy it borrows its language from, putting devotion where birth used to stand.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
More in this theme →