The Name, this world and the next level
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आनंदाच्या कोटी । सांटवल्या आह्मां पोटीं ॥1॥
प्रेम चालिला प्रवाहो । नामओघ लवलाहो ॥ध्रु.॥
अखंड खंडेना जीवन । राम कृष्ण नारायण ॥2॥
थडी आहिक्य परत्र । तुका ह्मणे सम तीर ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Millions of joys are stored within us. The river of love flows in the rush of the divine name. This unbroken, unfailing stream of life is Rama, Krishna, Narayana. Says Tuka, both shores, this world and the next, are level banks of that same river.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Millions of joys are stored up inside us. The river of love is flowing, the rush of the stream of the Name. This life never breaks, never runs out: Rama, Krishna, Narayana. Tuka says: both shores, this world and the world beyond, are level banks of the one river.
What it means
Tukaram describes the inner state the Name opens, and the poem stays inside its imagery. The Name is a river of love already flowing in the devotee, fed from a store of countless joys, and that life never breaks or runs dry. The last line is the quiet claim: the two banks usually set against each other, this world and the next, are simply the level edges of a single stream. For one carried on the Name, here and hereafter stop being a crossing to fear; they are one water.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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