Social criticism, the nameless life
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वाचे विठ्ठल नाहीं । तो चि प्रेतरूप पाहीं ॥1॥
धिग त्याचें ज्यालेपण । भार न साहे मेदिन ॥ध्रु.॥
न बैसे कीर्तनीं । गुण नाइके जो कानीं ॥2॥
जातां कांटाळे देउळा । तो चि सुना मुखकाळा ॥3॥
हरिभक्तीविण । त्याचें जळो शाहाणपण ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे तेणें । वंशा आणियेलें उणें ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who does not have Vitthal's name on the tongue is a walking corpse. Cursed be such a life; the very earth cannot bear its weight. One who will not sit in the kirtan, who will not hear God's praise with the ears. One who feels aversion at the sight of the temple is dark-faced and wretched. Without devotion to Hari, let all his cleverness burn. Says Tuka, such a person has brought disgrace upon the entire lineage.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
One who does not have Vitthal on the tongue is a walking corpse; look, that is what he is. Cursed be such a life. The very earth cannot bear its weight. He will not sit in the kirtan. He will not hear God's praise with his ears. He feels disgust at the sight of the temple; that one is empty, his face is black with shame. Without devotion to Hari, let his cleverness burn. Tuka says: such a person has brought disgrace upon his whole line.
What it means
Tukaram measures a life by one thing only: whether the Name lives on the tongue. A person who never speaks Vitthal, never sits in the kirtan, never bears to hear God praised, and turns away from the temple, he calls a corpse already, a weight the earth should not have to carry. The harshness is aimed at the pattern, not at insulting a man; he is naming what a life empties to when it has no devotion in it. Such cleverness, he says, deserves to be burned, because it serves nothing. The closing line widens the loss: a life lived without the Name does not disgrace the man alone but the whole line he came from.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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