Fearlessness, the Name at the throat
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जालों निर्भर मानसीं । ह्मणऊनि कळलासी ॥1॥
तुझे ह्मणविती त्यांस । भय चिंता नाहीं आस ॥ध्रु.॥
चुकविसी पाश । गर्भवासयातना ॥2॥
तुझें जाणोनियां वर्म । कंठीं धरियेलें नाम ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तेणें सुखें । विसरलों जन्मदुःख ॥4॥ ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My mind has become utterly fearless, and through that fearlessness, I have come to know You. Those who are called Yours know no fear, no anxiety, no worldly desire. You free them from the noose of birth, from the torments of the womb. Knowing Your secret, I have held Your name at my throat. Says Tuka, in that joy, I have forgotten the suffering of birth itself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My mind has become without fear, and so I have come to know you. Those who are called yours have no fear, no worry, no craving. You cut away the snare, the torment of being born in the womb. Knowing your secret, I have held your name at my throat. Tuka says: in that joy, I have forgotten the suffering of birth.
What it means
Tukaram links fearlessness and knowledge: only when the mind let go of fear did it come to know God. He says those reckoned as God's own carry no dread, no anxiety, no craving, because God cuts the noose of rebirth and the agony of the womb. The secret he names is simple: he keeps the Name lodged at his throat, always ready. The result he lands is that the whole pain of being born has been forgotten in the joy of holding that Name.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
More in this theme →